It is encouraging to see a CIO who takes the lead in focusing on projects that will bring value to the organization and improve its bottom line. Close to 70 percent of IT projects fall in the failed or challenged category?the latter meaning the projects were delivered but did not produce the promised value for the customer. Two common reasons projects fail are a poorly defined organizational strategy and the lack of a well-designed process to filter out low-value projects. Keeping this in view, my suggestion to Deseret Book CIO Niel Nickolaisen is to ensure that mission-critical project classification is tied to specific quantified strategy metrics?for example, to obtain 25 percent additional market share by December 2004 at an investment of no more than $2 million. Without this, the mission-critical definition will revolve around people’s wishful thinking, a definite path to failed and challenged projects. The same goes for the market-differentiating definition.Another key factor Nickolaisen must include in his simplified decision process is the risk exposure of each proposed project. Often projects get approved without the risk being fully evaluated. For example, if the IT group started four projects designed to gain that 25 percent market share and assumed the project failure rate is 50 percent, its ability to succeed is fairly slim. It would behoove them to plan for a higher percentage gain to be able to meet the desired 25 percent mark. Nickolaisen is taking a step in the right direction to simplify the decision-making process. Now he needs to make sure the process is comprehensive and robust. Related content News Amazon to lay off 9,000 more workers, including some at AWS The latest round of Amazon layoffs will impact AWS, Twitch, advertising and PXT, CEO Andy Jassy said. By Jon Gold Mar 20, 2023 3 mins Technology Industry Cloud Computing BrandPost What’s next for network operations Broadcom: 2023 Tech Trends That Transform IT By Serge Lucio, Vice President and General Manager, Agile Operations Division Mar 20, 2023 8 mins IT Leadership Networking BrandPost Digital transformation obstacles: Stubborn challenges, what to do about them Value Stream Management is an increasingly essential approach to strategic transformation initiatives. To help teams more fully capitalize on the opportunities it presents, Broadcom is holding its third annual VSM Summit. By Marla Schimke, Head of Product and Growth Marketing, Broadcom's Enterprise Software Division Mar 20, 2023 3 mins Devops Software Development Feature CEO directives: Top 5 initiatives for IT leaders As organizations change course with economic gyrations, collaboration between IT and business becomes priority No. 1 for CEOs. By Stacy Collett Mar 20, 2023 7 mins IT Leadership Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe