No real plan. If there's no baseline to work from, no one really knows that a project is late. Many projects never get to the stage of firming up a detailed plan.

Excessive optimism. In many teams, there's a perpetual optimism that just because the project is behind at the current time doesn't mean that they won't soon catch up.

Fear of admission. When a project team is in trouble, no one wants to go to senior management and admit it. That might bring uncomfortable scrutiny, blame and retaliation. It's easy for team members to delude themselves into thinking, "Maybe no one will notice. Maybe things will get better. Maybe I'll find a new job before someone finds out."

So how do you figure out that you're getting into trouble? How can you monitor projects for those early warning signs that things are going off the rails? Here are a few things to look for:

Poor team morale. This is probably the biggest thing to look for, not because it's the leading cause of project failure, but because it's a great indicator that something else is wrong. Many of the other things listed below may first be visible in the team's morale, since team members will probably be aware of project problems before you are.