You’ve spent months preparing: creating your requirements list, comparing vendors, running evaluations. Now you’ve finally chosen your management system software. What could possibly go wrong? Without wanting to scare you: a lot. That’s why right now is the best time to prepare a contingency plan. In this article, we’ll walk you through the key warning signs of a failing rollout — and explain why you should take them seriously.
Ideally, you define your exit criteria before the project begins and align them with management. That way, you create transparency from the outset. Because no matter how confident you are in your choice of software, things don’t always go as planned.
The question you should ask yourself is: At what point would I stop the project because it’s not delivering what I expected?
If your goal is to build a living, effective management system, here are four red flags to watch out for during the rollout:
1. You can’t get started.
The project was announced internally, expectations are high — but nothing happens. If the provider hasn’t managed to technically implement the system within two months of project start, that should set off alarm bells.
2. Your provider ghosts you.
Questions are normal. Being ignored isn’t. If you still can’t reach the provider’s support hotline after three tries and are left to deal with problems on your own, that’s a definite red flag.
3. You’re flying solo.
A fatal sign: after four months, there are still no users active in the system. QM is building everything alone, while everyone else ignores it. If nobody is engaged, how could the system ever become “living”?
4. Nothing improves.
Twelve months in, it’s time to take a hard look. By now, at least 50% of your users should be working in the system. If they aren’t, you’ve reached the point where no one believes in the project anymore.
There’s a saying: better a painful end than endless pain. That’s exactly the case here. Pulling the plug on a software project may be uncomfortable, difficult, and take a lot of courage. But it’s still better than tolerating ongoing rejection from employees — or watching your project become just another failed QM system everyone jokes about.
If you defined your exit criteria transparently from the start, then pulling the emergency brake when they’re met isn’t failure — it’s simply staying consistent with your goals. Only by doing so can you keep moving toward what really matters: living processes and a user-friendly management system.
Are you unsure whether your current project is headed for failure and need a solid Plan B?
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