IT projects continues to run over time and over budget, resulting in systems that do not match business or end-user requirements, ot stall before they are finished

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IT projects continues to run over time and over budget, resulting in systems that do

not match business or end-user requirements, ot stall before they are finished. In

contrast, traditional engineering projects show lower rate of failures. In fact,

traditional engineering projects have around for centuries and are better understood.

IT projects have their own inherent weaknesses (such as invisibility, complexity,

dynamic nature, difficulty regarding estimation, intangibility, regular upgrades,

inability to add people on a delayed project and training requirements) as well as

strengths (flexibility, mobility, replication, scalability, reusability of components and

possibility of using prototypes) that requires careful attention. The only possible fault

one can call common to all failures in inadequate, to a greater or lesser extent,

management of those projects manager responsible. In mitigation, the design and

implementation of IT systems is horrendously complicated, involving highly complex

matrix of technologies and business interdependencies which are shifting at different

relates across several management planes. But that is still no excuses for such

failures. The reasons IT projects fails, to whatever extent, remain the same as

always: the inability to specify user requirements, manage the number of requested

changes, or limit the scope of change as the project progresses. There are many

other issues behind failed projects, including in-house politics, deadline-centric

cultures and new legislation emerging during the project.

 

Good project management, however, is about taking account of change up-front, and

building in risk management and contingency planning buffers. It is about setting

realistic duration and cost estimates, and not being afraid to tell the chief executive

that his pet project cannot be finished in the six months he expects, even if being so

honest puts your job at risk. Since none of this is rocket science, it begs the

questions as to why to protect continue to fail. 'It's because there's too often a lack of

an agreed requirement specification', says Dennis Gower, a founding member of the

Association of Project Managers. 'At least 50% of the time of the contract should be

to find out precisely what users and departments require, it's that important.

 

Anne Bentley, a business consultant with project management software house

Artemis agrees: 'The actual specification of what's wanted by the department is often

not concise or clear, which means costs won't be clear, estimated timescales will be

out, and soon the whole thing goes wrong'. In addition, says John, commercial

directive at software implementation specialist Druid: 'A lot of the failure is down to

the fact that users aren't fully aware of the change that the company has embarked

upon on their behalf. Pressure on any project manager to change the scope is fierce,

and while there may be formal change management processes in place, he can still

get swamped.'

 

If that all sounds obvious, it is because the people explaining the issues are all

project management professionals. Many of those managing end-to-end IT projects,

however, are not. Not only that, but the companies to work for have no sense of

project management on a corporate basis, spanning all business operations. This state of affairs is changing. With the onset of recession at the start of the decade, corporate minds were focused on monetary constraint and efficiency improvements

in existing systems. The number of new projects lessened, and those that were

given the go-ahead were, often for the first time, highly scrutinised from a non-IT

perspective.

 

Focus was sharpened on professional project management skills, regardless of

whether they came from outside the organisation through consultant, or through in

house training and development programmes. During the past three years, institutes

and groups, such as the Association of Project Managers, have emerged. 'The use

of project management hasn't been god in the past', admit James Baker, responsible

for setting up the BCS's project management group. 'But in the past five years

there's been a dramatic upturn in training, qualifications and attention to project

control, and its role in organisation as a whole.'

 

Unfortunately, this trend has taken 30 years to arrive, with relatively recent disasters

such as those at the Stock Exchange, the London Ambulance Service and British

Gas still fresh in the mind. On of the key reasons for this, believes Baker, has been

the hugh divide between user and IT shops, the latter delivering what they though

the user required, and user naively expecting systems the IT department could not

deliver. 'With IT system now very much a business issue', add Baker, 'these gaps

may be flowing, but there remain crucial issues regarding managing projects. There's

an argument that technology always has a solution to technology problems, but you

can't necessarily find solutions to people problems, the management of which

accounts for perhaps 80% of successfully managed projects.'

 

If the right people are involved, the chances of success increases exponentially. But

what constitutes an ideal project manager is debatable. To some, it is a combination

of having a listening ear with the ability to rule with a rod of steel, which having the

requisite project management skills. For others, such as long-time project manager

Ervin Munir, new projects director with AMS, there is much emphasis on

imperturbability. 'In some firms personal success is based on meeting dates, and if

slippages are perceived, it leads to situations where the project manager is unwilling

to tell the truth.' Munir related an instance in his career, which has featured Currys,

Dixon and Burger King, when he was given six months to complete project which

his own analysis showed would take a year. 'I had to decide whether to keep quiet or

tell the truth', he recalls. 'In the end I stuck to my guns, and the users were pleased

with the final results. And that's what all project managers should be able to do.'

 

For Neil McEvoy, a director at consultancy Hyperion, a key attributes is the ability to

manage expectations and balance resources and skills against those expectations.

'When things for wrong because business requirements changes, that's when the

real skill of project managers come in'. With more project management courses and

certification, the prospects improved skilled professionals seem certain.

'Certification', says McEvoy, 'can arm people with a basic toolkit. But most problems

are about managing relationships, so all the training in the world will of little use if the

project manager has no instinctive feel for people.'And there is more, add John: 'Project managers need to be methodical, but also

intuitive and able to understand real issues. It's an art and a skill'. At least with a

growing body of professional project managers to call on, the prospects for doing so

successfully are enhanced.

 

1. What reasons does the case study indicate are responsible for project failure?

 

2. What steps can be taken to reduce the risk of project failure?

 

3. What are the qualities sough from a project managers according to McEvoy, John and Baker?

 

4. Describe how the weaknesses, as mentioned in the case study associated with IT projects may affect their success.