A complete list of classic mistakes would go on for pages more, but those presented are the most common and the most serious. As Seattle University's David Umphress points out, watching most organizations attempt to avoid these classic mistakes seems like watching reruns of Gilligan's Island. At the beginning of each episode, Gilligan, the Skipper, or the Professor comes up with a cockamamie scheme to get off the island. The scheme seems as though it's going to work for a while, but as the episode unfolds, something goes wrong, and by the end of the episode the castaways find themselves right back where they started—stuck on the island.

Similarly, most companies at the end of each project find that they have made yet another classic mistake and that they have delivered yet another project behind schedule or over budget or both.