A project issue is an event or condition that has negative consequences for a project. The term implies a situation that is recoverable or that can be mitigated in some way. An issue differs from a risk in that a risk hasn’t occurred yet. Issues differ from failures in that failures are in the past and can no longer be managed. The following are examples of project issues.
Poor Quality
Deliverables are low quality causing delays or rejection of deliverables.
Scope Creep
Requirements are interpreted in a broad way that goes beyond what was scoped.
Change Management
A project is pushed to except more work without more budget and time.
Benefit Shortfall
A business unit begins to realize that a project isn’t going to be commercially successful.
Design Issues
The architecture for software relies on an unstable component.
Integration
A part in an engine doesn’t respond to commands as in specifications causing integration testing to fail.
Technical Issues
Developers can’t find the root cause of a defect in software.
Resistance to Change
A team wants a project to fail and take actions to stand in the way of task progress such as political roadblocks based on technicalities.
Resources
A subject matter expert resigns in the middle of a project.
Performance
A developer delivers work late at low quality. She often disregards communications such as emails and skips meetings.
Skills
A developer is new to a technology. At the start of a project it is assumed the developer will be able to come up to speed with a little training. When they start work it becomes clear that an expert is required.
Disputes
A milestone is delivered by a vendor but rejected in user acceptance testing with major defects. The vendor insists that a milestone payment be made before any work proceeds.
Sponsor Support
A sponsor is disengaged and unresponsive to requests to help clear political roadblocks such as denied budget approvals.
Decision Making
A project encounters an integration issue and those with authority to decide how to fix the problem fail to deliver a timely decision.
Supply
A material required to set the foundation of a building isn’t delivered on time.
Facilities
A project states an assumption that a data center facility will be available for equipment installation. Access to the facility for installation is repeatedly denied.
Budget
A budget assumes cloud service charges of $1300 a day but the actual amount is running at $4300 a day.
Schedule
A task estimated at 13 business days actually takes 43 business days.
Operations
The first release of a system causes downtime of a production line. Backout procedures are executed but they also fail extending the outage.
Legal
A neighbor sues to stop a construction project after trucks block access to their property.
Testing
Testing misses a defect that goes into production causing customer complaints and regulatory inquiries.
Information Security
Days before launch a serious security vulnerability is discovered in a software product.
Compliance
A project team realizes that a product fails to comply with laws, regulations or standards.
Processes
A business unit points out at a late stage that a new system is incompatible with critical business processes.
Weather
A construction project is delayed by a hurricane.
Geology
An engineering project encounters a geological formation that wasn’t discovered by planning surveys.
Technical Issues 