What To Do When Your IT Project Is Late, Over Budget, and Looks Like It’s Never Going To Work

Written by Frank Schmidt


What To Do When Your IT Project Is Late, Over Budget, and Looks Like It’s Never Going To Work by Frank Schmidt © 2003 http://www.GeniusOne.com

Here’s a scary statistic. According to four prominent research firms, only around 20% of all IT projects are finished in a timely manner. By “timely”repparttar researchers mean without loss of quality or being over budget. They go on to sayrepparttar 104939 average project runs approximately 200 percent late, roughly 200 percent over budget, and contains only 2/3 ofrepparttar 104940 original functionality. Failure isrepparttar 104941 norm inrepparttar 104942 IT industry. But why? And more importantly, how do we fix it?

There must be a way to dissectrepparttar 104943 problem, and create a solution torepparttar 104944 diagnosis of “doomed failure.” Trust me, there is!

Top 7 Problems and Their Solutions

Let’s take a look atrepparttar 104945 top 7 reasons IT projects are late or over budget. Then I’ll show you some proven solutions taken straight fromrepparttar 104946 trenches.

1. Not Enough Time

Whether it’s a misunderstanding ofrepparttar 104947 complexity of computer system designs or some other reason, many times little time is devoted to gatheringrepparttar 104948 necessary data. Because this is one ofrepparttar 104949 first steps inrepparttar 104950 process, when adequate time isn’t given to data collection, everything else suffers.

Likewise, enough time is rarely allotted to creating a good design. Whilerepparttar 104951 planning stage may not offerrepparttar 104952 excitement that development does, it is equally, if not more, important. Lack of planning inrepparttar 104953 design phase almost always leads to ongoing changes duringrepparttar 104954 development phase. When this happens, budget dollars and man-hours are eaten away.

SOLUTION: Give it more time. This vital step must be given due consideration. Adjust your schedule as needed, and you’ll findrepparttar 104955 rest ofrepparttar 104956 process goes much smoother. Yes, you have to make it to market before your competition. But if you make it to market and your product is filled with bugs, what do you get? A pile of returns and complaints, and a bad reputation.

2. Openrepparttar 104957 Lines of Communication

It sounds like a cliché, but communication is absolutely vital torepparttar 104958 success of any project. The communication betweenrepparttar 104959 development team andrepparttar 104960 users, and alsorepparttar 104961 communication insiderepparttar 104962 development team must be crystal clear. Does everyone understand you? Do they know exactly what’s expected of them or have you assumed they know? Do they communicate well with each other? With users? With other departments?

SOLUTION: Identify communication breakdowns now. These can only lead to confusion and complications downrepparttar 104963 road. Never assume that everyone understands. Take just a little extra time to create an environment that is destined to produce a product on time and under budget.

Got an Idea?

Written by Ray Anctil


Got an Idea?   If you are like me you have had many good ideas. Then you got excited about it and when all was said and done, you did nothing with it, or someone else came up withrepparttar idea and moved on it. Does that sound familiar? How many times have you kicked yourself for not taking action? Too many to count as far as I am concerned. It’s not enough to just have a good idea. You have to also develop a plan. The captain of a ship leaving port knows where he is going and how he is going to get there. Unless you plan to just drift onrepparttar 104938 sea of life you need to chart your course to a specific destination. That doesn’t mean you can’t make changes. Change is inevitable. You can change your destination and your course but stay true torepparttar 104939 journey.

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