Betts m (2003) why it project fail

These causes are elaborated upon with some examples. The relevant lessons that can be derived from recognizing areas where IT projects are more likely to fail are also presented at the end of the paper. Introduction Business environments these days are characterized by complexity, and acceleration of everything from communication to production methods.

IT has been one of the major drivers of this complexity and acceleration. There are nearly limitless applications of IT in the service of business. IT improves productivity through streamlining of process and enhances efficiency and effectiveness of individual workers as well as groups through connectivity that it offers. IT also makes it possible for business to grow by access to new markets and new partners. Considering those capabilities of IT, it can be disappointing to see the limited success that has been achieved in applying it in real business environments.

Researches continually show that companies have difficulty with IT projects. The data on project outcomes are shown on figure The Standish Group research confirms that large projects are more likely to fail than small projects The Standish Group International, That is likely because large projects tend to be more complex.

Although success rates increased, and failure rates decreased during the six years of the study, the numbers still indicate a problem. Before answering this question, it is important to consider a failure example of an IT project. The National Research Council saw no evidence that backup and contingency plans had been formalized. Science Application International Corporation said it delivered the first phase of the project ahead of schedule and under budget, but the requirements for the software changed more than one time after the September 11, terrorist attacks on the USA Gross, The office of the inspector general found that FBI was still defining the requirements after two years since the start of the project Fine, Glenn, The example of Virtual Case File gives a high level overview of the difficulties to successful completion of complex IT projects.

The example has shown that the difficulties are related more to the people than the technology itself Tilmann and Weinberger, , even though technology may increase complexity. Why IT projects fail? The project team, the suppliers, the customers and other stakeholders can all provide a source of failure, but the most common reasons for project failure are rooted in the project management process itself and the aligning of IT with organizational cultures Tilmann and Weinberger, Based on a research carried out by the Coverdale Organization Cushing, , the respondents identified estimation mistakes, unclear project goals and objectives, and project objectives changing during the project as key factors in project failures.

Most large IT projects are planned these days, but that is not enough. Most projects have major milestones, and the problem is that the work continues throughout each milestone Humphrey, ; implementing sometimes starts before plan completion and continues through most of the testing. A fundamental reason the Virtual Case File software project fail was due to poor planning. Isfahani, K. Oracle Corporation. Judy, K. Why do some Agile projects succeed while others fail? Is it the company?

Is it Agile methods? IT project management and success criteria. Koi-Akrofi, G. IT project failures in organizations in Ghana. Laurie, J. JISC infoNet. Lyytinen, K. Information failures—a survey and Classification of the empirical literature. Oxford Surveys in Information Technology, — Oltmann, J.

What Makes Projects Succeed? Accessed on March 24, from www. Peslak, A. History, Business Community, Information Technology. The journal of Computer Information Systems. Rawlinson, S. Successful Projects.

Issue Rosenfeld, E. After all this Why do projects fail? Schmidt, R. Identifying software project risks: An international Delphi study. Business and technical problems boil down to people problems. Calling something a technical problem is a convenient label to say "It's not something I can handle. It's a people problem. People solve problems. People create problems. It's the extent to which we take responsibility for solving problems that gets them solved. So why do IT projects fail?

No one prevented them from failing. We define success as a lack of failure and failure as a lack of success. If you eliminate the possibility for failure, the only possibility you have left is success.

You can try to do all the things to make something succeed and still be blindsided by something you didn't notice, didn't consider. So trying to do all the right things won't necessarily ensure success.

In risk management, we look at what might be a problem. Hidden costs of going lean and mean 7. Failure to plan 8. Communications breakdowns 9. Poor architecture Late failure warning signals Conclusion The factors of successful project management are well known they merely need greater attention Bryce, It must be remembered that project management is first and foremost a philosophy of management not an elaborate set of tools and techniques. Project management represents 1.

Discipline 2. Organization 3. Accountability Challenge People seem to have a natural aversion to these attributes 12 How much project management is necessary? Individual worker prepare estimates and schedules, perform project work, and report on activities 2. Project manager plan, direct, and solve problems 3.

Department managers administer resources 4. Executive management establish priorities and monitor project progress. This Gartner research report recommends how to improve IT success rate based on data from a project sample. Multiple attributes contribute to IT project success 3.

Methodology focus is on these risks 1. Financial 2. Operational 3. Market 4. Sovereign local political instability or terrorist events Action to consider 1. Strong coordination between technology and finance organizations 2. Integration of risk into project planning using riskmanagement tools Discusses the changed role of the project manager in Agile projects. The study is organized in six sections: 1. Establishing guardrails to ensure individual Agile projects are delivered on time, on budget, and within scope.

Managing the brand of Agile and cultural change management in the organization. Managing demand from continuously testing teams. Breaking rigid project boundaries to optimize benefits. New role for Project manager. The study in five findings-- 1.

On-time and on-budget project performance is necessary but not sufficient for attaining business outcomes. Only a select number of project management activities drive business outcome attainment. Project manager effectiveness is the number-one driver of business outcome attainment. Re-center project planning around business outcomes to estimate and track benefits. Over-manage stakeholder involvement at Concept Definition.

Poor project planning and direction 2. Insufficient communication 3. Lack of change, risk, financial, and performance management 4.

Failure to align with constituents and stakeholders 5. Ineffective involvement of executive management 6. Lack of skilled team members in the areas of soft skills, ability to adapt, and experience 7.

Poor or missing methodology and tools Organic method items that appear in internal company guidance 1. Set up an electronic project notebook repository 2.

Establish written project objectives communication 3. Work with the technical lead to establish tasks within phases planning 4. Ask team members to estimate tasks estimating 5. Create a formal project plan and manage to it directing 6. Proactively solve problems that arise problem solving Insufficient communication Evidence infrequent open communication status reports are not objective poor communication with sponsors and business users failure to properly involve others like hardware vendor does not broker consensus among stakeholders Recommendations Agendas, minutes, information-push s, and for-purpose meetings or conference calls Mix up the way that the message is delivered, especially for executive reviews Senior people are likely doing several projects or supporting multiple programs at the same time Specialized personnel have a narrow focus and are often shared resources Daily professional life isn t naturally an ordered set of activities Meetings Phone calls Text messages s Education Conference calls Activities Problem Instant messages Failure to align with constituents and stakeholders Evidence failure to align with constituents unmanaged outside forces stakeholder conflicts poor user input poor coordination with core outside teams like finance Recommendations Target specific initiates to ensure interlock and communication with stakeholders Suggestions--Input gathering meetings, communication to push information, sign-offs of work products, etc.

Lack of skilled team members in the areas of soft skills, ability to adapt, and experience Evidence slow to adapt and lack of experience team does not have the right composition of skills or skill do not match the job lack of focus and lack of maturity Recommendations Utilize mentoring approach for less experienced team members Include required education in overall project schedule Actively seek the skilled personnel through internal and external routes jobs system Poor or missing methodology and tools Evidence project methodology and tools are poor not using proper tools and automation lack of methodology to achieve beyond basic level of success no benefits management or portfolio management Recommendations There needs to be a methodology or framework upon which the management is based even if it is organic Formal methods next page can have significant payback Capability Maturity Model CMM is a collection of model frameworks for assessing the maturity of a specific practice.

Basics 2. Project management 3. Risk 4. Hardware 5. Software Clear project goals? If no, what is not clear? Firm project scope? If no, is change-management being used? Achievable plan? Note: the scope of this question is feasibility. Adequate resources? If no, what additional resources are needed? Sufficiently skilled team members? If no, what skill-areas are missing or are too few? Turnover in personnel?