February 16, 2004 (Computerworld) --
Failing to Learn From IT Mistakes Examples of corporate IT project failures are well known, from AMR Corp.'s Confirm reservation system to Hershey Foods Corp.'s ERP meltdown. The reasons are well known, too—from technology and financial shortcomings to a lack of end-user and management support. All of this is cataloged in the book Software Development Failures, by Kweku Ewusi-Mensah (MIT Press, 2003).
What's new is the author's examination of a subset of IT failures: abandoned projects. These are IT projects that were partially or completely abandoned before implementation—often in the coding/testing phase. In other words, they got pretty far along before someone figured out that they needed to pull the plug.
What's especially distressing is that IT organizations continue to make the same mistakes on subsequent projects. Most of them conduct post-mortem reviews to identify what went wrong and why, which is good news. But the author's research shows that half of them don't keep records of the lessons learned, and even those that do keep records don't make good use of them for new projects, so they're doomed to repeat past mistakes.
This book recommends a "triangulation strategy" for postabandonment reviews, using questionnaires, structured interviews and archived records to figure out why a project failed. But the most useful question of all may be, "What are the most important things you would point out to your manager or your staff if you joined a similar project in the future?"
Why Wait Until The Project Ends? As good and important as retrospective project reviews are, they obviously come too late to do any good for an already completed (or abandoned) project. That's where "project introspectives" come in, says Lynne Nix, a senior consultant at Cutter Consortium in Arlington, Mass.
"The project introspective allows the project team to assess what is and is not working and to make midcourse corrections," Nix wrote in a recent bulletin. The goal is to revisit the original assumptions about features, resources and schedules, which undoubtedly have changed now that you have some real-world experience.
At what point do you get introspective? Nix says the reviews should be done at the conclusion of each development iteration or when there's significant change in the project scope.
Three Tips About: Program management offices (PMO)
From: Eric Gioia and Tricia Davis-Muffett, executives at Robbins-Gioia LLC, a project management consulting firm in Alexandria, Va.
• Keep the PMO separate from the project development team so it can play an "honest broker" role and objectively point out problems. The PMO should report to the CIO.
• Make the PMO a knowledge management function that collects information on what really happened on previous projects and feeds that information into new projects.
• Know how long it really takes to accomplish a task in your organization—not in some idealized situation—so you can develop realistic schedules.
Harrah's System For Early Warnings
One challenge for IT managers is getting an early warning of project problems, especially if team members aren't comfortable raising red flags. Harrah's Entertainment Inc. in Las Vegas addresses that issue in the following ways, says Heath Daughtrey, vice president of IT services.
• Managers meet weekly and review a two- or three-page dashboard of performance indicators to see whether a project is on target and on budget.
• IT conducts detailed quarterly reviews of the top 10 projects.
• IT has a culture that "embraces visibility" and isn't punitive about identifying risk factors. Actually, "identifying a risk is the best thing that a project manager can do," Daughtrey says.
Also, about a year ago, Harrah's installed software from Niku Corp. in Redwood City, Calif., to better manage its huge portfolio of IT projects. The software provides visibility into how projects are performing and helps managers make sure the right people with the right skills are on the projects, Daughtrey says.
Software Project Bill of Rights
Customers have the right to: • Set objectives for the project and have them followed. • Know how long the project will take and how much it will cost. • Decide which features are in and which are out. • Make reasonable changes to requirements. • Know the project's status clearly and confidently. • Be apprised regularly of risks that could affect cost, schedule or quality. • Have ready access to project deliverables. Project teams have the right to: • Know the project objectives and clarify priorities. • Know in detail what product they're supposed to build and clarify the product definition. • Have ready access to the customer, manager or other person responsible for making decisions about software functionality. • Work each phase of the project in a technically responsible way, and not be forced to start coding too soon. • Approve labor and schedule estimates for any work they're asked to perform. • Have the project's status reported accurately to customers and upper management. • Work in a productive environment free from frequent interruptions and distractions.
"This pilot fish works at a telco that provides DSL hardware access to ISPs. Total number of users: in the..."
Read more...
"User stops at the desk of this pilot fish and informs him that the mouse and keyboard on the user's..."
Read more... Read more Management posts or See all Blogs
If you're like our 7,000 survey respondents, your paycheck this year has been flattened and your bonus obliterated. We offer 12 ways to plump up your paycheck.
By helping Intel with loosened 'Vista Capable' requirements, Microsoft 'severely damaged' its credibility, said an HP exec in a newly unsealed Feb. 2006 e-mail.
Turning information into a Competitive Advantage View this webcast now! Go to the webcast
SaaS Solutions for Remote Systems Management
Download this Technology Briefing, free, compliments of Dell. (Source: Dell) The benefits of Software as a Service (SaaS) are extending their reach into systems management. So in addition to the more obvious cost control and rapid application deployment benefits, SaaS can be instrumental in filling needs for compliance, security and business continuity - all the while reducing costly infrastructure. Learn more in this brand new Technology Briefing. Download this executive briefing
The Importance of Application Management
Get this white paper now! (Source: Dell) Efficient desktop application management is essential in normal day-to-day operations of any company. Whether you are introducing a new application or implementing an OS migration, the goal is the same: minimize disruptions and ensure user productivity throughout the process. Download this white paper
White Papers
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services.
With an estimated 40% of the world's information now residing behind a firewall, employee productivity is driven by the ability to quickly find key information no matter where it's stored across your organization. At Google, we believe in a simple premise: all of the information you need to be productive at work should be available through one search box, giving users real-time access to content across the enterprise and delivering a single, integrated, secure set of search results.
Moving to Windows Vista: The Promise, The Reality
IDG survey says...that while migration to Windows Vista looms inevitable, the road is fraught with challenges from application compatibility to integration issues to upgrade costs. Fortunately one company is stepping up with solutions and services to help manage Vista in a mixed environment and to automate key aspects of that management chore. View this webcast. See more Webcasts
See your link here
Subscribe to
Computerworld 
or
Other Project Management Stories
or See all Blogs 
If you're like our 7,000 survey respondents, your paycheck this year has been flattened and your bonus obliterated. We offer 12 ways to plump up your paycheck.
Microsoft's next OS might more accurately be called Windows 6.5: It's essentially a better version of Vista.
Twitter can be a valuable business tool -- if you know what you're doing. Here's how to juice it for all it's worth.
By helping Intel with loosened 'Vista Capable' requirements, Microsoft 'severely damaged' its credibility, said an HP exec in a newly unsealed Feb. 2006 e-mail.
Get the latest news, reviews and more about Microsoft's newest desktop operating system
Find wage data for 50 IT job titles.
Turning information into a Competitive Advantage
Download this Technology Briefing, free, compliments of Dell. 
Get this white paper now!
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. 
The Enterprise Search Zone
IDG survey says...that while migration to Windows Vista looms inevitable, the road is fraught with challenges from application compatibility to integration issues to upgrade costs. Fortunately one company is stepping up with solutions and services to help manage Vista in a mixed environment and to automate key aspects of that management chore. 
Computerworld
