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Inhibitors of project success and balanced scorecard

Short answer

Inhibitors of project success are factors like unclear requirements, poor planning, lack of resources, and scope creep that reduce the chance of meeting goals. The balanced scorecard links inhibitors to perspectives (financial, customer, internal process, learning and growth) to detect issues early, enabling corrective action and strategic alignment.

What are inhibitors and inhibitors of project success? How is it related to a balanced scorecard?

An inhibitor is something that restricts, holds back or prevents an action or a result. Inhibitors of project success are factors that reduce the chance that a project meets its goals.

Common inhibitors of project success

  • Lack of user input and unclear requirements.
  • Incomplete or changing requirements and specifications.
  • Unrealistic expectations, schedule or budget.
  • Poor planning or no planning.
  • Lack of executive or sponsor support.
  • Lack of resources, skilled people or technology.
  • Poor communication and weak team coordination.
  • Weak risk management.
  • Uncontrolled scope creep.
  • Failure to monitor and control, and poor quality management.
  • Resistance to change from users.

(The Standish Group's CHAOS report, cited by Schwalbe, lists lack of user involvement, incomplete requirements and lack of resources among the top reasons for failure.)

Relation to balanced scorecard

The balanced scorecard (Kaplan and Norton) is a performance measurement tool that looks at the organisation from four perspectives, not just the financial one: financial, customer, internal business process, and learning and growth.

PerspectiveInhibitor linked
FinancialCost overruns, unrealistic budget
CustomerPoor user involvement, unmet expectations
Internal processWeak planning, quality and scope control
Learning and growthLack of skills, training and tools
  • Using the scorecard, an organisation sets objectives and measures in each perspective and can detect early which inhibitors are affecting the project.
  • It helps link project goals with strategy, so projects that suffer from inhibitors (weak strategic fit, no sponsor) can be corrected or cancelled.

Example: If customer satisfaction scores fall (customer perspective), the manager traces the cause to unclear requirements and improves user involvement.

✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)

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