Whether we realise it or not, IT has become the lifeblood of most organisations. Hence when an IT project fails – which still happens in this day and age – it can be disastrous.
As Information Technology (IT) continues to permeate all aspects of an organisation’s operations – to drive increase productivity, efficiency, effectiveness, and innovation – the success of IT projects is becoming even more critical to the overall success of the organisation or business. Like all projects, IT projects can fail. However, with the stakes getting increasingly higher, the failure of an IT project can be catastrophic for all concerned. Here we outline five reasons why such projects fail.
1. Poor project specifications
This is perhaps the frequent reason why projects fail, and may manifest itself as unclear project requirements or scope of work, and as a result, there is a gap between what has been specified, and the problem that needs to be solved. In many instances, the project requirements are drafted to tell the Consultant or the Vendor (of goods and/or services) exactly what the clients thinks is required to solve a particular problem. However, little or no consideration is given to the desired output, which in fact may be different, and is not satisfied by the specifications prepared.
Another example when there might be poor project specifications are situations when the IT team has provided to the procurement unit or management/the executive their requirements, but then ‘tweaks’ are made. While the changes might be necessary to accommodate a constraint under which the project, and by extension the organisation must operate – such as budget – it can mean that the project can no longer be executed in its entirety as initially specified, and ultimately, the modified version is doomed to failure.
2. Implementation requirements are underestimated
Although it is rarely acknowledged, most projects are executed under some kind of constraint. The most prevalent one tends to be financial, particularly in the form of underestimated costs. However, projects can also fail due to inadequate resources, overly aggressive timelines, overlooked requirements and unanticipated complications, to name a few.
These reasons frequently arise in government tenders, where there can be a significant lag of time between project conceptualization and implementation, especially when donor funds are involved. Although the project might have been correctly specified and budgeted, by the time it is to be implemented – which might be years later – costs have changed, the situation to be addressed has changed, or has become is more complicated. Accordingly, the specifications being followed no longer match the situation, and tend to lead to incomplete or ineffective implementation.
3. Users not exposed to the IT solutions early enough
For IT projects that are to be used by the wider organisation, it is important that the projects are not implemented in a vacuum, and that some of the actual users are involved in the process. Too often, users only get to interact with the project outputs when they are in their final stages. As a result, the project does not benefit from the users’ practical insights on what their needs are and how they might use the solution that is being provided. When they are brought in towards the end, it might be more of a challenge to change or adjust certain features than it would have been had they been engaged earlier, which in turn can affect adoption of the solution, and the extent to which the project is considered a success.
3. Insufficient buy-in
Invariably, there will be individuals in an organisation that are hesitant about change. Management might be looking to implement some fancy IT solution, but employees are sceptical. Some of their arguments might be: the current systems work; they are unsure whether the new-fangled toy is any real improvement on the status quo; and the training that is being proposed seems inadequate.
The reluctance of staff to support new IT solutions could result in them being dead in the water, although considerable sums would have been paid to procure and implement them. It is thus vital to truly assess the willingness of the wider team to embrace the new systems that is being introduced, or the project can fail.
5. Inadequate change management
Finally, whenever a major change is to be introduced, almost equal consideration should be given to the corresponding change management process – to transition staff members from the current system to the new one to be implemented. All too often, managing the transition is seen as an afterthought, when in fact, it requires very careful and coordinated implementation. Further, it tends to be left too late, which staff members have already dug in their heels, or evidence of a not-so-smooth adoption has begun to emerge.
Image credit: TeroVesalainen (Pixabay)
________________
