Eight Causes of Project Failures: UK Government IT Projects

March 30, 2009 · Filed Under CEO, Thoughts  - 0 Comment(s)

From the POST report on UK Government IT projects, there are some insightful lessons on why projects fail. Now if we could only get the world to bring those into play early. We could avoid many project failures. Note number 6…. not taking the total ownership cost into account. That is why we stress total ownership costs (which many organizations don’t want to worry about until it is too late).

1. Lack of a clear link between the project and the organisation’s key strategic priorities, including agreed measures of success.

2 Lack of clear senior management and ministerial ownership and leadership.

3. Lack of effective engagement with Stakeholders.

4. Lack of skills and proven approach to project management and risk management.

5. Lack of understanding of and contact with the supply industry at senior levels within the organisation.

6. Evaluation of proposals driven by initial price rather than long-term value for money (especially securing the delivery of business benefits).

7. Too little attention to breaking development and implementation into manageable steps.

8. Inadequate resources and skill to deliver the total delivery portfolio.


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Related posts:

  1. Government IT Project Woes and Estimating Total Ownership Costs
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  3. IT Service Management Can Save Big Money
  4. Government IT Projects: Opportunity For More Success
  5. 7 Characteristics of Dysfunctional Software Projects

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