Tony Meggs from the Infrastructure Projects Authority wrote a very helpful blog in March on the 6 sins of project failure quarterly.blog.gov.uk/2018/03/28/cro… 
so in @instituteforgov Preparing Brexit report we thought we might see how #brexit stacked up as a project instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/p…
so - sin 1 - lack of clarity around project objectives... no comment
sin 2 - lack of alignment among stakeholders.. as we show, plans are being drawn up on differing internal assumptions; external stakeholders in the dark
sin 3 - unclear governance and accountability.. quite a lot of internal governance around Brexit; committees galore. But we need someone in overall charge of Brexit readiness - not just the PM. we suggest Lidington and Manzoni
sin 4 - insufficient resources, whether human or financial. Money much easier after spending allocations (but there will end up being more). Skills and experience a much bigger challenge. Compounded by churn
sin 5 - inexperienced project leadership -- no one in the world has brexit experience. Next
and finally - overambitious cost and schedule. Anything more than minimum viable product impossible for Marc 2019 and tough for Dec 2020 when we still don't know end state.
as @jl_owen @lewisalloyd argue - choice is between asking for more time or accepting a "messy Brexit" .
or possibly, as Meggs argues happens with projects that exhibit these sins, never escaping from the "valley of death"
