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June 14, 2010 By Liza Lowery Massey
Recently after quoting statistics about the high rate of IT project failures, a government leader asked: "Why bother since the failure rate is so high?" As a technology leader, I said that when done correctly, IT systems do add value. I explained that surveys find that IT projects mostly fail due to poor project management (which seems odd when you consider the pervasiveness of project management training, certifications and best practices).
So why are IT projects delivering less-than-stellar results, even in the public sector, where policies and procedures are common and following best practices has become a near obsession? While other factors impact IT project implementation, my experience supports that the quality of project management profoundly affects the outcome. Often, organizations get stymied by the complicated nature of project management, the time and cost involved in developing project management professionals, and a lack of understanding the need to develop internal skills.
First, it's important to define what a project is and adopt the right approach for handling it. One of my early mentors, Roger Dean, IT director of Hillsborough County, Fla., taught me that project management is necessary for any work efforts outside of daily operations. Since one-size-fits-all isn't the best approach, the larger or more complex the project, the more in-depth and formal the process.
I believe having project management skills within the organization is important for government agencies. Who else has your organization's best interest at heart? Some people may argue that small organizations or those that heavily outsource services don't need internal project management skills. However, I believe these organizations need them just as much or maybe even more to ensure that they get the most from their efforts or contracts. Developing internal skills doesn't have to be costly or time-consuming.
When faced with an IT organization that lacked much in the way of formal project management skills and limited financial resources, Dean initiated an effort to train nearly everyone in our department. We found a firm to offer on-site project management training. It wasn't to the certification level, but it worked well. This approach was also extremely cost-effective and it ensured that the entire department adopted the right project management attitude. Besides the training, formal processes and procedures were developed and employees were educated regarding their use.
As a consultant, I perform project management services, and my approach reflects the belief that organizations need internal skills. In addition to providing best practices-based services, my partner and I train our client's staff and share our processes and procedures with them so they can do the job. I believe that project management engagements should be fixed-priced and deliverable-based. That's also what we do. Otherwise, what's the motivation to finish on time or early if compensation is hourly based?
Finally, I've seen organizations become bogged down in complex processes believing that they must follow the best practices as taught, although the organization wasn't mature enough to handle all the requirements. Instead, organizations that deploy best practices understand that the theoretical processes work best when applied practically, corresponding to the level of complexity the organization can handle. That doesn't mean dumbing down or simplifying the process, but starting with the fundamentals and building on them as the organization becomes more comfortable with the process.
Project management isn't just for the elite few who become certified professionals. Instead, pervasive adoption of sound fundamentals in a practical manner will help improve the chances of IT project success.
You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.govtech.com/pcio/Poor-Project-Management-Dooms-Many-IT.html
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Outstanding thoughts, Liza, and well spoken! "Why bother" is a common question and it demands good answers. Project management is so often viewed as a purely analytical activity, and it's not. There are many other forces at work, not least of which is a desire on an organization's part to slough off accountability to a PM. One person, no matter how visionary or strong, can't support the weight of the world on his or her shoulders alone. For an organization to have good, consistent success at their projects, the entire organization (not just a select few) needs to understand the nature of projects, and what to expect. Certification programs are helpful, but they don't do a good job of addressing less concrete aspects of projects like organizational behaviour, individual behaviour and motivation. Projects tend to begin with an optimism that leads to "biting off more than we can chew" in terms of scale and complexity. And frequent fighting over resources at a management level creates demotivated teams. I love some of the points here...it just speaks to your experience...you've clearly been around! :-)
Outstanding thoughts, Liza, and well spoken! "Why bother" is a common question and it demands good answers. Project management is so often viewed as a purely analytical activity, and it's not. There are many other forces at work, not least of which is a desire on an organization's part to slough off accountability to a PM. One person, no matter how visionary or strong, can't support the weight of the world on his or her shoulders alone. For an organization to have good, consistent success at their projects, the entire organization (not just a select few) needs to understand the nature of projects, and what to expect. Certification programs are helpful, but they don't do a good job of addressing less concrete aspects of projects like organizational behaviour, individual behaviour and motivation. Projects tend to begin with an optimism that leads to "biting off more than we can chew" in terms of scale and complexity. And frequent fighting over resources at a management level creates demotivated teams. I love some of the points here...it just speaks to your experience...you've clearly been around! :-)
Poor Project Management is not the main reason why IT projects fail. The main one is the lack of stakeholders's support (see http://www.pmhut.com/why-projects-fail-2 ). Poor Project Management is #4 on this list. And why do we have poor project management, is it because the project manager is bad? Is it because the project should not have been started in the first place (someone's pet project that adds no value whatsoever to the company)? Is it because the team is bad, the management has no vision or cannot communicate its vision to the project manager? Poor project management should not mean bad project manager, and in any case, it's not the main reason why projects fail.
Poor Project Management is not the main reason why IT projects fail. The main one is the lack of stakeholders's support (see http://www.pmhut.com/why-projects-fail-2 ). Poor Project Management is #4 on this list. And why do we have poor project management, is it because the project manager is bad? Is it because the project should not have been started in the first place (someone's pet project that adds no value whatsoever to the company)? Is it because the team is bad, the management has no vision or cannot communicate its vision to the project manager? Poor project management should not mean bad project manager, and in any case, it's not the main reason why projects fail.
Projects have become projects within projects, within projects. Scope is often a problem, it's not supposed to change mid-project. Planning is probably the biggest failure for projects. Also, rarely do I see any kind of quality control, they taught me that in school but I don't see it where I work.
Projects have become projects within projects, within projects. Scope is often a problem, it's not supposed to change mid-project. Planning is probably the biggest failure for projects. Also, rarely do I see any kind of quality control, they taught me that in school but I don't see it where I work.