Speaking at the 2011 Australian SharePoint conference in Sydney, Seven Sigma's managing partner, Paul Culmsee, told the predominantly development-focussed audience that if they spend 99 per cent of their time talking about time, cost and scope and 1 per cent looking at the legacy a project will achieve, they will be doomed to repeat the legacy they are trying to escape.

"If you spend all your time talking about things from a rational manager's point of view -- it's a failure," he said.

"When you install SharePoint, you need to ask what legacy you're going to leave, otherwise you're doomed to repeat yourself."

Using the project management behind the creation of the Opera House as an example, Culmsee said projects that create a positive legacy are remembered more than the bumps in the road during implementation.

"If you judge the Opera House through the first order project management goals of time, cost and scope, it's clearly a failed project, but the legacy is priceless and that's what people go there for," he said.