Pan-Pacific Conference XXXIV. Designing New Business Models in Developing Economies

Factors of IT project failure
One of the study’s main research questions is to
gain insight into the factors for IT project failure at
a South African SOE. The responses were quite
diverse and related to the five of the six sources of
project failure as in figure 2. The figure below
summarises the key responses and how they relate
to these sources of IT project failure:
FIGURE 3: Factors of IT project failure
Project management
• Poor project planning
• Poor requirements management
• Poor documentation
Organisational
• Lack of skills
• Project resources revert back to operational
work during project
• IT department works in islation
Process
• Lack of knowledge about internal processes
• Poor governance
• Project prioritisation
Top management
• Lack of support
• Contradicting requirements from sponsor
and business
Complexity and size
• Undocumented change requests
Technolgy
• Little knowledge of products from
international vendors
All the interviewees lamented the fact that poor
requirements management is a central aspect.
However, some of the interviewees stated that
project managers were not involved in any
meaningful way during the planning process. In
some cases, project managers were assigned to
projects that already well underway. This is
extremely disconcerting.
The second greatest source of failure is
organisational factors. The interviewees were
mostly concerned about human resource
considerations. There was a concern about the lack
of skilled resources and how they were allocated to
the project. What the interviewees found most
egregious was the fact that committed resources
readily reverted to their own operational duties
while the project is still in execution. It would
appear that these resources are not dedicated to the
project by their respective management teams.
A peculiar issue surrounding organisational culture
and communication also emerged. Defects and
project issues are not escalated timeously. There is a
sense of fear of escalating tasks to avoid bad
relationships within the environment.
Thirdly, process considerations seems to be great
source of IT project failure as well. There seems to
be great lack of knowledge on the part of project
practitioners around internal processes. This may
stem from the fact that these IT departments operate
in isolation from the rest of the organisation. The
lack of governance in many cases is also a concern.
The rganizations policies and processes define how
work is done as well as how projects are conducted.
CONCLUSION
All agreed that a successful project should have a
technical as well as product component. A project
could conceivably be successful in terms of
schedule, cost and quality constraints and yet fail in
the eyes of the customer if that deliverable does not
meet their needs. The opposite can be true as well.
The greatest risk of failure for SOE’s in this context
lies in project management, organisational and
process factors. The greatest concerns lies around
the commitment of resources, poor requirements
management and communication.
The following recommendations are presented to
project practitioners and managers who are
accountable for successful project delivery:
(i) The organization must clearly
communicate their expectation to project
managers in terms of what is considered a
successful project: technical vs. product
success.
(ii) The formal adoption of project
management guides or standards are
strongly advised.
(iii) A communication plan that facilitates
open an honest communication should be
implemented.
(iv) Stability in fully discovered requirements
are essential in ensuring that projects do
not become victims to undocumented or
continuous change management
procedures.
(v) The practice of redeploying project
managers mid-project and replacing him
or her with another project manager must
halt and only be considered if absolutely
necessary.
(vi) Project managers who understand the
technology and have the technical skills to
manage a project are far more likely to
successfully deliver a project. These
project managers need to identify their
skill gaps and approach a management
team who is willing to upskill the
individuals who are responsible for
delivering projects.
Areas for further research include:
(i) The role of governance in the
successful delivery of IT projects in
the public sector;
(ii) A framework for the governance of
portfolios, programs and projects for
public enterprises, and;
(iii) A comparison of practices in public
and private organisations in the
delivery of IT projects.
REFERENCES
References available upon request.
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