Only 29% of IT projects are successfully completed. Think about that. All that time and money invested into projects that were doomed from the start.
At Human IT we’ve established a rock-solid framework for getting projects out the door on time and on budget. This was achieved because we were aware – and cautious about - the most common mistakes when it comes to IT project management.
So let’s go through them and suggest some remedies. We’ll start off with the main offender:
- Poor Resourcing
The white whale that is responsible for almost every failed project. Not putting the right people with the right skills in the right areas will sound the death knell for the project.
SOLUTION: The solution to this comes in the form of full transparency. The skills and workloads of everyone involved must be laid bare. And when I say ‘everyone’ I mean everyone. This includes contractors, consultants and outsources (who often get left out despite doing a large amount of the work}. From there it’s up to the project manager to allocate the resources in a pragmatic way.
- No Standardisation
Trying to reinvent the wheel every time a new project is taken on will lead to it becoming bloated and dysfunctional. Or, perhaps worse, things will be forgotten about and fall through the cracks.
SOLUTION: A set-in-stone methodology will ensure high efficiency and low risk. A repeatable process that everyone is privy to will ensure the cogs keep turning at a steady pace and nothing is left behind.
- Lack of Communication
Things go wrong. It’s normal. It happens. How problems are dealt with, however, can be the deciding factor between success and failure. Attempting to keep problems under wraps until it’s too late can prove fatal for a project.
SOLUTION: Keeping your stakeholders abreast of the project’s status is vital to its success. People have a tendency to try and hide problems that occur. “Bad news is better than no news” is something you’ve probably heard. There’s a reason for that: it’s true.
The benefits of avoiding these pitfalls speak for themself. A strong plan, sensible resourcing and keeping the conversation going will see your project land in that top 29%.
