… there is no desire to assign or take responsibility right from the start.
… there is no desire to make it happen.
… there is no desire to do it better than the last time.
… there is no desire to keep the staff involved as happy as your superior and/or your client.
… as a consequence of the four items above, there is a lack of planning.
… as a consequence thereof, each step of execution becomes an iteration of the whole process.
… the manual or protocol being followed is outdated and/or doesn’t match the requirements of this project.
Projects are not doomed when people are (being perceived as) stupid (read: either not smart or not knowledgeable).
Projects are doomed when people don’t care enough.