It’s an older Reg Braithwaite post, but an excellent one. His four most important causes of failure are all painfully familiar. The paragraphs he writes on hiring practices and “development hygiene” are especially important. In an environment where the cheapest vendor wins, those two areas are the source of many problems.
The post does a very good job of pointing out how weak stakeholders can doom a project. There’s also a clear example of how office politics can play havoc with outcomes.
It’s a pretty long post, but very worthwhile reading.