LAWS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

1. No major project is ever installed on time, within budget, or
with the same staff that started it. Yours will not be the
first.
2. Projects progress quickly until they become 90% complete,
then they remain at 90% complete forever.
3. One advantage offuzzy project objectives is that they let
you avoid the embarrassment of estimating the
corresponding costs.
4. When things are going well, something will go wrong.
• When things just cannot get any worse, they will.
• When things appear to be going better, you have
overlooked something.
5. If project content is allowed to change freely, the rate of
change will exceed the rate of progress.
6. No system is ever completely debugged. Attempts to debug
a system inevitably introduce new bugs that are even harder
to find.
7. A carelessly planned project will take three times longer to
complete than expected; a carefully planned project will
take only twice as long.
8. Project teams detest progress reporting because it vividly
manifests their lack of progress.

Reference: Project Planning and Implementation - Jim Keogh