Well success is something relative, it can be the individual accomplishment of hard work, innovative ideas and creative thinking but very often is the outcome of well coordinated, interdisciplinary team efforts. In the later case, the success heavily depends on the quality of individuals but also their ability to come a mutual consensus of the efforts to be carried out and their role in the process.
Well, often either the individuals cannot work together, or are incompetent, or even worst the individuals while being incompetent they also consider themselves as a central/leading piece of the effort. The outcome is highly predictable, failure independently on whatever efforts you will put on the project. You can start at the very beginning being cooperative and try to explain with arguments the reasons why the effort should be carried out differently and subsequently you can argue on the choices and direction of the project, but still it will make no difference, other than putting tremendous energy both for succeeding on your task as well as maintaining alive the project the outcome is highly predictable.
Now the question is what to do next? well there are two options, either walk out from the project, or trying to bypass the incompetence by involving upper management. Well depending on your situation and how much you are appreciated from your employer you can make an effort to involve upper management even if the outcome is highly uncertain. So, are we contemned to fail? well not necessary. There is another strategy depending on whether or not you can build a consensus in the team.
The idea is fairly simple, if you really believe on the project do your job as best as you can and deliver what is expected from you, high quality, top level, innovative ideas! Make your involvement on the project an indispensable piece of its survival and success using real arguments and focusing on the added value you and your collaborators do bring in. Ignore the frustration and the incompetence of your colleagues, what does count is that the job is done and more importantly it is appreciated from your colleagues not because subordination reasons but because if its quality. Simply deliver!
Once this has happened, then go back and discuss your participation conditions. If it doesn't work, then it is time to move on and do something else, give up and abandon the project. Understanding the limits of your arguments in the decision process/chain is extremely important. Even if the project might collapse which is definitely pity for your organization and yourself given the tremendous effort you have put it, the bottom line is that you did your best! and if you don't walk out you will be miserable and unhappy. Failing in such a setting certainly hurts but it is better to move on rather than wasting time, effort and resources on something that anyway it will collapse and you have no means to overcome. "Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence"
note: keep in mind that it might happen that the incompetence can come from yourself as well :-(
note: keep in mind that it might happen that the incompetence can come from yourself as well :-(
