Project monitoring for early termination

Much of the literature published on project management describes approaches, tools, and techniques that can help project manager better implement and realize their projects. Yet although a large percentage of projects do fail, very little has been written about identifying and terminating failed projects. This article discusses the difficulties involved in early project termination (EPT) and the reasons why attempts to implement EPT have been unsuccessful. In doing so, it reviews the literature on project termination and identifies the key problems of this process. It then outlines an early termination monitoring system (ETMS), detailing the multiple steps involved in performing its three audits: organizational, post-initiation (involving two types of factors: static project and project manager), and ongoing (involving two types of factors: dynamic project and organizational managerial).