Although its findings have yet to be released, says Hughes, the finger from his group's preliminary inquiries firmly points to basic project management principles as the main shortcoming—especially within the civil service. (Now there's a surprise.) "There's oodles of good practice about, but all too often it isn't followed—many of the problems would be avoided if the government merely followed recognized good practice," he says. What's more, he adds, there's often a focus on the computer aspect of the project to the detriment of the change management aspect of the project. "There's no such thing as an IT project in isolation," says Hughes. "It's the business activity that needs to be understood and specified—the IT project is just a part of this. And it's essential to focus on the business objectives and outcomes, not just the IT outputs."

SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
Reassuringly, this turned out to be one of the principal conclusions of the government's own findings, contained in a report published May 22. "A change of approach is needed," recommended the authors. "Rather than think of IT projects, the public sector needs to think in terms of projects to change the way government works, of which new IT is an important part." Officials declined to comment further, pointing merely to the views expressed in linked pronouncements by MP Minister of State, Cabinet Office Ian McCartney, in which he acknowledged that harnessing the power of IT is not always easy. "The tasks involved are very complex and fraught with risk," said McCartney. "The government has already successfully implemented a range of complex projects. However, we still need to improve performance and avoid the mistakes of the past."

Apart from the "think of the project, not the IT" recommendation, the report also suggests an organization change: the creation of a single responsible person to oversee each project rather than the management-by-committee approach that had preceded it. Changes in the procurement process were also suggested. Startlingly, these included the importance of suppliers understanding the requirements for a new system—and only promising what they could deliver—and a firm vow by the government to manage suppliers better. "This government will not tolerate failure and repeat the mistakes of the past," said McCartney. (For its part, Hughes' industry group, the Computing Service and Software Association, says it agrees with the government's findings.)

Not tolerating failure is a laudable goal but one that could prove tricky to achieve. Experts such as Marcus Pollett see the review as a welcome step in the right direction—providing that deeds follow words. And that could be difficult to determine. Pollett, a London-based writer and commentator who has followed the U.K. government's IT projects for some years, is scathing about both the review itself and the culture of secrecy that shrouds it and much else in the British civil service. "It's tremendously difficult to get any useful information at all from these people," he complains, referring to the Central Information Technology Unit and the Cabinet Office that oversees it. "There's a real control-freak mentality: Things do leak, but it's a tremendously secretive culture."