Here is a classic case of a project that did not engage with its communities. The UK National Offender Management Information System project (called C-NOMIS) has been a colossal failure. Reading what happened is a point by point litany of how to do a project poorly.

• Poor vendor relationships
• Sponsors out of the loop
• End users unprepared and resistant to required process change

The underlying theme across the board is poor information flow between the project team and the communities that had an interest in the project outcomes.

Hiding the facts, not listening to stakeholders, and dismissing supporters will inevitably lead to sub-standard outcomes for your project. Opaque project management is not the way to go.

Transparent Project Management is! Transparency is key to project success. Making sure that at every step, any interested party has full access to the details of what is happening and giving them the ability to provide feedback will significantly reduce the types of problems seen in the C-NOMIS project.

Decision 3D can help build transparency into projects, and avoid these types of problems.