Many years ago I went on an IT project management training course for a global financial institution.
Day one: the tutor explained that the course was to address the problem that "fewer than 20% of IT projects are delivered on time to spec and within budget".
Several days later: our team's course work case study proposal is ready for presentation to a (real) senior manager. He looks at our proposal, significantly reduces our proposed budget, timescales and development team size then asks "how confident are you that you can deliver on time to spec and within budget". One of our number had a handy tip from a delegate on a previous course: "anything less than 100% confident will mean your team has failed the course". So we lied... Suppose one were to transfer what we learnt to a real project, I wonder what the outcome might be.
Another related story: 15+ years ago we needed a file output from the mainframe once a quarter as PDF. The "well known mainframe manufacturer's" proposal was $100,000 to write a bespoke "print to PDF" module for the mainframe. I was told "the chairman has approved the expenditure, we just need you to give us a technical sign-off". My proposal: transfer the file to PC and spend $200 on the Adobe PC PDF writer. My management was only too happy to go with my approach and reflected their gratitude by awarding me an annual bonus of $0.00 (I quit that job soon afterwards).