The International Community for Project Managers (ICPM)

Competitive market forces continue to impose challenging tradeoffs in the development of complex systems and products. On one hand, there is great pressure to incorporate the latest breakthroughs, on the other maintain the existing process & not to forget the budgets. This requires a balanced transformation in business culture.

Every development shop wants to be seen as a strategic partner with their business clients. You know that you want the development resources allocated in a way that provides the most value to the business. You also know that your development resources are not limitless. So, how does your company determine what projects get funding and which ones do not? Do you initiate development projects based on who screams the loudest or do you have a process to prioritize and rationalize the work that gets done?

A project approval process is part of an overall business process called portfolio management. Other parts of portfolio management include the planning and scheduling of projects during the budget year, keeping track of progress on the approved projects throughout the year and measuring the effectiveness of the projects as they complete. In most mature (non-startup) companies, the project approval process occurs when the budgets are set for the following fiscal year. (This contrasts with the planning horizon for a new start-up company. The planning horizon for them might be tomorrow or maybe the next quarter.)

Awareness of Factors Leading to Failure
From this research, a number of factors have an impact on the effectiveness of most IT projects. Organizations must deploy a robust project management process Soft skills, such as team-building, ability to communicate effectively, problem-solving skills, leadership skills, analytical thinking are key project management skills. Executive sponsors must clearly understand their roles and responsibilities in a project environment and must provide the essential support needed. To ensure feasibility, the careful filtering and selection (or rejection) of a project early on will have a positive impact on that project’s future success.

You have all read the stories about the large number of IT projects that fail. Depending on the report you read, half or more of these projects fail - perhaps as high as 80%. According to the reports, the larger the project, the greater the chance that it will be a failure. Let’s assume that the number of failed projects is 50% - the low number. What is interesting is to try to relate that number to personal experience. Where are all of these failed projects coming from? Can you say that half or more of the projects that you managed were failures?