Dec 12 2007
Do You Expect Failed Projects As a Norm?
Tata Consultancy Services (an iRise Alliance Partner) released the results of their first annual global IT survey recently. The biggest surprise was that business managers responded that they tend to accept IT problems as a norm and necessary evil. Would you?
Some of the survey highlights include:
- 62% had IT projects that failed to meet their schedules
- 49% suffered from budget overruns
- 47% had higher than expected maintenance costs
- 41% failed to deliver the expected business value and ROI
An interesting question looked at the reaction of business managers and the Board of Directors when IT projects have gone wrong:
The two noticeable differences between the US and Global results were that US Business Managers rarely look for an IT scapegoat and that they are less apt to accept problems as norm and necessary evil. They are also more likely to continue to provide support to improve IT for the business.
Personally, I find the results troubling and like to see some organizations challenging the norm with new and innovative ideas. Some choose visualization as a critical element of communication to prevent these failures. See some examples here.
TCS is working with iRise to mitigate risks on IT projects. As Vipul Shah, Manager R&D at TCS, put it, “Software development is an inherently complex process faced with the risks of miscommunication and the potential loss of control. iRise helps TCS mitigate these risks by visually simulating and validating requirements before development even begins. This strengthens the scope of our engagements and ensures the solutions and services we deliver to our clients are exactly as intended.”
The survey was conducted among 800 global mid-level and senior IT staff (23% of them from the US). You can read more about the survey and download detailed results from this link.