When the story of your failed $39 million ERP implementation for King County shows up on the front page of the Seattle Times more at ITResumeService.com

1. Creating Great Resumes From Failed Projects
Whenthe story of your failed$39 millionERPimplementationforKingCountyshowsuponthe front
page of the Seattle Times,itputsyouat a distinctdisadvantage once youare readytolookfor a new
job.ERP boondogglesare oftenpriceyventureswithhighlyvisualimpactstothe organization.Reporters
and bloggerswill quicklycall attentiontoeverydetailof the resultingmess.Often,good,hardworking
teammemberswiththe talenttosucceedfindthemselves seekingtheirnextjobunderacloudof
projectfailure.
IT projectsare consideredafailure,whentheyare cancelled,abandoned,implementedpoorly,ordon’t
deliverwhatthe businesstrulyneeds.The mere actof deployingtechnologydoesnotmeritaddingthe
projectas an accomplishmentonyourresume.Unlessthe technologyprovidedfunctionalityand
capabilitiesthatthe businesswantsanduses,thenit’safailedendeavor.It’snotvaluabletothe
businessuntil itenablesenduserstoworksmarter,faster,andmore productivelythantheywere
previously.See more atITResumeService.com.
IT projectsfail forany numberof reasons — poor sponsorship,unclearorunrealisticprojectobjectives,
impossible deadlines,unskilledprojectmanagers,poorprojectmanagement,andmanymore.The
occurrence of failedprojectsishigh.Statisticsvarywidelydependinguponhow failure isdefinedand
data iscollected.Whetheryoufocusonthe highsor the lowsamongthese numbers,the problemis
significant.The followingstatisticswere reportedfromaDynamicMarketssurvey¹:
• 88% of projectsrunoverschedule,overbudget,orboth
• 45 percenthave higherthanexpectedmaintenance costs
• 40 percentfail todeliverthe expectedbusinessvalue andROI
• 46% are completedandoperational,butwithfewerfeaturesandfunctionsthaninitiallyspecified
It isespeciallychallengingwhenafailedprojectiswidelypublicized.If youattempttoleave afailed
projectthat dominated3-4yearsof yourcareer,it createsa large gap inyour resume.Youcouldtry to
leave itoff andfocus onotherprojectsinwhichyou were involvedduringthatsame time period,but
yourisk notleavingthe readerwithagood impressionif the informationistoosparse.Irecommend an
alternative thatismuchmore effective—searchoutyourachievementsfromwithinthe entire project
and include those successesonyourresume.Let’sexamine how thisapproachworks.
If your projectdeliveredevenone milestone,thenyoucouldinclude thatachievementonyourresume.
Thinkaboutthe projectphasesfroma projectmanager’sperspective— Initiating,Planning&Design,
Executing,Monitoring&Controlling,andClosing—the onesthatwere completedandthe contributions
youmade to each. You obviouslycan’tinclude anythingfromthe “Closing”phase becausethisphase
requiresprojectacceptance.

2. Initiating:
1. Say, forexample,thatyouestablishedaProgramManagementOffice (PMO) tosupportalarge ERP
implementationbecause sufficientpoliciesandproceduresweren’tinplace.Youworkedwithsenior
managementtodefine howthe programwouldbe governed,the rolesandresponsibilitiesof the team,
and howyouwouldworkwiththe steeringcommitteetokeepthe linesof communicationopen.
2. You designedanddevelopedaprototype thatwaspresentedtoseniormanagement.Yougot
approval andfinancingsothat the projectcouldmove forward.
3. You createda projectcharter,includingcosts,tasks,deliverables,anda schedule.
Planning& Design:
1. You facilitatedrequirementsgatheringsessionswithenduserstodefinetheirspecificneedsand
thendevelopedthe specificationsthatwere giventothe developmentteam.
2. You reviewedthe productdesigntomake sure itcompliedwithengineeringprinciples,company
standards,customercontract requirements,andrelatedspecifications.
3. You developedtop-level anddetailedsystemdrawingsandspecifications,includingpreparingthe
systemlayoutandschematicsandconductingreviewsof the detaildesigns.
4. You identifieddeliverablesandcreatedthe workbreakdownstructure.
Executing:
1. You implementedatransactionbackupbetweenthe primarydataserverandanotherserver,with
sufficientstorage tohandle dataredundancyissues.
2. You deployedaself-contained,demonstrationplatformforanMDM software solutionthatrequired
a combinationof Linux andWindowsserverstobe networkedtogether.
3. You ledan architectural projecttoimplementthe Departmentof Education’sdirectlendingcontract
aftera governmenttakeoverof the studentloanprogram.
Monitoring& Controlling:
1. You testedthe newfunctionalitiesonaPeopleSoftERPportal tofacilitate the dataexchange
betweenthe ERPcomponentsystems,such asHR, studentadministration,andfinance.
2. You identifiedaproblemandtookcorrective actionstoaddressthe issuesandrisksproperly.
3. You providedfeedback.
4. You managedthe change managementprocesstodocumentanychangesthat modifiedthe tangible
portionsof the finishedwork.

3. Closing:
1. Were youinvolvedindealingwithacontractclosure thathad a paymentdispute?
2. Did youcreate a “lessonslearned”reportbasedonwhythe projectfailed?
A similarapproachworkswhenyou’re inamore technical,non-managementrole.Assume thatyou
were a developeronacancelledproject.Youcouldtake a lookat the classicwaterfall phasesfor
developmentprojects — planning,analysis,design,construction,anddeployment.Atwhichphase was
the projectcancelled?Whatdeliverableswere producedinthe pre-cancellationphases?Whatrole did
youplayin producingeachof those deliverables?Answeringthese questions,allow youtodescribe your
contributionsandthe experience yougained,helpingyourresume tell the rightstoryregardlessof the
currentstate of the project.
Summary
Notall achievementscanbe statedinyourresume asif theyinclude finaldeliverytothe customeror
businessusers.Manydeliverablesfromvariousphasesof the projectcanbe included.Fromcompleting
technical deliverablestoproblemsolvingandteambuilding,unsuccessful projectscanbe rich with
accomplishmentsandlearningexperiences.
Article Source http://christinastripling.com/creating-great-resumes-from-failed-projects/