亲爱的安妮：有位有着变态幽默感的同事发给我一篇您的专栏文章，讲的是怎样从重大的、引人关注的失败中走出来。因为我最近刚刚接手了一个项目，可公司里的同事都认为这个项目注定要失败。事情是这样的：过去九个月里，一个12人的团队一直在尝试推动内部能力建设，但到目前为止都没有成功。如果我们成功，可以为公司节省大量资金，但实际情况的复杂程度超出了所有人的想象，各种问题和延迟令高层震怒。我的上司希望我能推翻之前的工作，重新组建一支团队从头再来，进而减少损失。

    然而，我认为事情仍然有挽回的可能，只要我们能停止相互指责，把精力用来作出一些关键的改变。可在应对这种情况方面，我确实没有太多经验。我该如何拯救这个脱轨的项目？您和您的读者能推荐一些实用的指导吗？——G.H.F.

亲爱的G.H.F.：首先，我要推荐一本值得一读的好书《拯救问题项目——识别、预防、重启失败项目完全指导手册》（Rescue the Problem Project: A Complete Guide to Identifying, Preventing, and Recovering from Project Failure）。这本书的作者托德•C•威廉姆斯是俄勒冈州波特兰市咨询公司eCameron的负责人。他花了25年时间为《财富》美国500强公司（Fortune 500）提供咨询服务，解决如何应对正在走向失败、或已经失败的项目。

    有时候他会建议彻底放弃，但并不总是如此。威廉姆斯说：“方向的决定很大程度上取决于公司在项目中陷入的程度，以及将项目带回正轨最终能否弥补损失。而最主要的问题是策略。项目对公司的战略目标有多重要？如果你们正在努力建设的能力至关重要，那么这个项目就有拯救的价值。”

    假如你所提到的节省成本潜力非常巨大，而且坚持做下去能在财务层面带来积极意义，那么，请看威廉姆斯在下面给出的拯救这个项目的四个步骤：

    1. 停止相互指责。威廉姆斯说：“等到需要我介入的时候，相关项目往往都已经处于相互指责的阶段。而实际上，任何失败的主要责任都在高层管理者身上，因为他们没能提供明确的方向，或者没有对项目进行密切的监督，也可能两者皆有。一旦我们指出问题所在，老板们会更愿意停止问责，而将精力转移到寻找解决方案上”——这就需要进入下面的步骤2。

    2. 关注事实。威廉姆斯说：“真实数据是你当前最靠得住的朋友。深入挖掘每个阶段的问题所在和原因。”寻找每一个失败点的问题根源，“就像剥洋葱一样，需要抓住核心。比如，假设一个关键组成部分未能准时出现。原因何在？未来又该如何预防？”

    他补充说，重要的是，不要受到任何无法验证的观点或假设的影响。他说：“人们通常会说：‘你们在为项目进行审计时，从这里能发现问题。’我对这个问题的回答是：‘让我先做审计，然后再说。’每当出现问题的时候，人们总是倾向于迅速得出结论——而这本身往往便是一种麻烦。”       

Dear Annie: A colleague with a twisted sense of humor sent me your recent column about bouncing back from a big, visible failure, because I've just been put in charge of a project that everyone here thinks is probably doomed. Here's what happened: A team of 12 has been trying for the past nine months or so to launch an internal capability that we have not had up to now. It would save us a ton of money if we can get it to work, but it has turned out to be more complicated than anyone expected, and senior management is so frustrated by the various problems and delays that my boss expects me to cut our losses by chucking the whole thing and starting over with a different team.

    However, it seems to me that this thing is fixable, if we can just stop all the finger-pointing and concentrate on making a few essential changes. But I don't really have much experience with this kind of situation. Can you or your readers recommend a good source of practical guidance on how to save a project that has gone off track? -- Glass Half Full

Dear G.H.F.: One place to start would be a highly readable book called Rescue the Problem Project: A Complete Guide to Identifying, Preventing, and Recovering from Project Failure. Author Todd C. Williams, head of eCameron, a consulting firm based near Portland, Ore., has spent the past 25 years advising Fortune 500 companies on what to do about projects that are either headed for a cliff or have already gone over.

    Sometimes he recommends scrapping them, but not always. "Deciding whether to go forward depends partly on how much the company has already sunk into it, and whether getting the project back on track can eventually make up the losses," Williams says. "But the main question is one of strategy. How important is this project to the company's strategic goals? If the capability you're trying to build is critical, the project is worth fixing."

    Let's say that the potential cost savings you mention are significant enough that it makes financial sense to persevere. Williams recommends these four steps to turning your project around:

    1. Stop the blame game. "The finger-pointing stage is usually when I get called in," says Williams. "But with any failure, a lot of the responsibility really belongs with senior management, for not providing clear direction, or not monitoring the project closely enough, or both. Once we point that out, bosses are more willing to shift the discussion away from assigning blame and on to finding solutions" -- which leads to Step No. 2.

    2. Focus on the facts. "Real data are your best friend right now," Williams says. "Dig deep into the details of exactly what went wrong at each stage, and why." Getting to the bottom of each failure point "is like peeling an onion. You need to work down to the center. Suppose, for instance, a critical component arrived late. Why? How can that be prevented in the future?"

    He adds that it's important not to be swayed by any opinion or assumption that can't be verified. "Often people say to us, 'When you do your audit of this project, here's what you'll find the problem was,'" Williams says. "My answer is, 'Let me do the audit first and we'll see.' Anytime something has gone wrong, there's a tendency to jump to conclusions -- which often is what started the trouble in the first place."