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ABC: An Introduction to IT Project Management

Only 29 percent of IT projects are completed on time and on budget. Here's some advice on how to improve your odds.

By Joseph Phillips

PAGE 2

• What are the basic principles of IT project management?
• Why do IT projects fail so often?
• How do I determine if a project is going to fail once it's in motion?
• When should a project be canceled?
• How can I ensure that my projects are successful?
• What are some common project-management methodologies, and which work best for various kinds of IT projects?
• Some companies have project-management offices. What's their purpose, and should I create one?
• How much authority should a project manager have?
• What certifications are available for project managers, and are they important?
• Our business moves very fast while our projects seem to move slowly. What strategies can we use to get our projects up to speed?
• Regulations, laws and standards are common in my industry. How will they impact my IT projects?
• I want to send my project managers through project-management training. What should I make sure they get out of it, and how do I know the training will be worthwhile?

How do I determine if a project is going to fail once it's in motion?

During the project's initiation, you should establish the criteria for success and failure. For example, to be considered successful, a project may have to adhere to certain quality standards (such as Six Sigma or an ISO program), fall within a certain budget, meet a particular deadline and/or deliver specific functionality.

Another approach is to use an indicator such as the "15-15 Rule." The 15-15 Rule states that if a project is more than 15 percent over budget or 15 percent off schedule, it will likely never recoup the time or cost necessary to be considered successful.

Certain management techniques can also help identify whether a project will be a success or failure. For example, the Earned Value Management technique allows an organization to measure a project's completion, schedule variances, create schedule and cost performance indexes, and forecast a project's likely completion date and financial impact upon completion. If, using the Earned Value Management technique, you see that a project is costing so much money that it's going to produce a quarterly loss, then you know it's not a success.

For more warning signs, check out "How to Kill an Enterprise Project."

When should a project be canceled?

IT projects are canceled for a variety of reasons, though chief among them is poor planning. Cost overruns by more than 15 percent, late milestones and poor quality are also viable reasons for scrapping projects.

To determine if your project should be canceled, at the start, determine what circumstances would call for a project's cancellation. You might consider time and cost overruns, or shifting business conditions. For example, if your company experiences a significant or sustained dip in revenue for whatever reason, you may decide to cancel the project to save money. You might also decide to cancel a project if its scope has grown or changed so significantly that the project is no longer recognizable or has morphed into something else.

If scrapping it sounds daunting, you might wish to create smaller projects that give some return for the sunk costs. After all, smaller projects are more likely to succeed than large ones.

 

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