10 Signs Your IT implementation Project is headed for disaster and what to do about it

There is a Masai Proverb which says ‘He who is unable to dance says that the yard is stony’. I hope this article helps to improve your IT project management dance.

IT projects do not usually suffer from a single point of failure, like we learn from the TV series ‘Seconds from Disaster’ it is usually a combination of factors that conspire over a period of time until a tipping point is reached. I don’t know how to calculate the tipping point for IT implementation projects. I share signs that you may need to watch out for to reduce the risk of project disaster. For the purpose of this article, a project disaster is when a project fails to meet the purpose for which it was executed.

1. Unclear Project Requirements

Project requirements are not explicit as to what specific organisation problems will be solved by implementing the IT project. This is a common seed for project disaster.

Have a documented business case that shows what specific problems will be solved and how. This should be signed off by the affected business unit and formally approved by the Project steering group.

2. Poor Vendor Selection

Some members of the Steering group and project management express doubts whether the vendor will deliver the project scope on time, within budget and right quality.

This may suggest that the user requirements and vendor selection criteria were not properly done. If the project has not commenced, request a 3rd party to review the selection process. If contract has been awarded and work commenced, increase project governance activities with a strong focus on Risk Mitigation.

3. Inadequate Stakeholder Management

There is inadequate budget for the execution of Stakeholder Management activities during the project life cycle. It has been established that without adequate stakeholder management, IT projects are doomed to failure. People are what makes the proposed solution work…without actively engaging stakeholders to allay fears and establish buy-in and commitment, disaster looms

Ensure adequate resources are made available to support stakeholder management activities throughout the project management lifecycle.

4. Competing Projects

There are competing project initiatives. Competing project initiatives do not allow adequate and timely provision of both financial and human resources and the IT project is not prioritised.This is common where the project benefits are not clear and compounded by inadequate stakeholder management.

Have the project priority formally revised. This should allow it to be placed where it will get adequate attention.

5. Wrong People

Having wrong people working on the project. The assignment of internal staff needs to be handled carefully.

Ensure that staff who are assigned to the project are enthusiastic and committed to the project, have the required business knowledge and understanding, are willing to learn and teach colleagues, are likely to stay longer than the duration of the project and are respected by their colleagues

6. Mismatch of capability to project complexity

There is a strong correlation between project risk and complexity. Some organisations do not formally review the risk of failure against increased project complexity. A wrong assumption is usually made that staff who successfully executed a less complex project will be equally successful with a more complex project.

Formally review the risk of project failure against complexity by reviewing the skills and experience of in-house project management.

7. Inadequate project budget

A project budget includes amounts to be paid to the vendor and in-house costs. Sometimes the vendor amount is not available and a scope reduction is poorly negotiated. A common mistake is to have key staff perform both day to day and project tasks and with little or no recognition for the project effort.

Ensure adequate budget is available for the planned project scope.

8. Inexperienced vendor staff

Some vendors assign inexperienced staff to projects, where they learn on the job.

Review proposed vendor staff CV's and validate purported experience by talking with customers where similar work was conducted. Reject those whose experience does not measure up. Many organisations do not do this and get surprised when work packages fail at the testing stage!

9. Lack of proactive project governance.

Proactive project governance helps the project management team to identify project risks and have mitigation actions taken in a timely and cost effective manner.

Ensure there is a process in place that identifies project risks and assigning and follow up mitigation actions. Risk mitigation requires the application of standard governance, processes and controls.

10. Ignoring Failure Signs.

When a project is about to fail, it shows signs.

Look for the signs around project scope, time, budget and quality. These signs are usually hidden in the open. It is however important to dig deep and understand the real causes of these symptoms and signs.

About the Author

Haven is a passionate and experienced IT project manager and quality assurance expert. He is Managing Director at Design Technology, a company that has provided IT project management and QA services for major global brands that include SAP, Deloitte, UNDP and Africa Development Bank. He can be reached on havench@diztech.co.zw