Project Management
IT Enemy No. 1: Half-Baked Ideas

July 16, 2001 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld -
The No. 1 problem in IT project management is that too many half-baked ideas are launched as projects, says Gopal K. Kapur, president of the Center for Project Management in San Ramon, Calif. "The staff indulges the bosses [who come up with half-baked ideas]. The higher the boss, the more indulgence," Kapur says.
But there may be something valuable buried in that half-baked idea. The key is to ask questions designed to filter out the babble and find the value. Kapur suggests asking the following:

What specific business strategy is this project linked to?

What are the implications of doing nothing?

What are the measures of success? (And after completion of the project, who can declare success?)

How realistic is the deadline?

Under what conditions would we shut down the project?
The second-biggest problem: executives who say they're the "sponsor" of the project but don't devote enough time to oversight.

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