Chapter 10. Feasibility: is this project viable?
Our project backlogs are full of great ideas. In some cases, we get so excited about a great idea that we disregard all the challenges and jump right in to start development. Sometimes we succeed, and sometimes we have to abort.
Many companies struggle when trying to validate a project’s value. Some companies initialize a project without knowing if it’s viable; other companies scrutinize the value of a project for months before making a decision. There are issues with both approaches.
If you perform minimal validation, you’ll frequently deliver projects that provide marginal value. You may also find that you’re aborting on projects because you overlooked major risks at the outset. In both instances, you waste company time and resources and potentially lose the opportunity to deliver valuable projects.
Companies that perform too much validation have a different set of issues. These companies create so many hurdles and gateways that a considerable expense is associated with project justification. They also minimize their ability to achieve benefits from projects that need to deliver value early: time that could be spent performing the project is frequently lost to the justification cycle.
How do you know when you’ve done enough research? How can you tell if a project is feasible without overkill? We suggest using the feasibility process outlined in this chapter. This process works for two reasons: