Symptoms: Delays arise from many quarters, not all of them purely the province of IT. Business cycles clearly influence the ability of IT to execute against deadlines, and recent pressures for cost and headcount reduction, and to “do more with less” have led to cancellations, extensions of timelines,”frozen” projects (in limbo), and great frustration in both IT and executive war-rooms.

Fixes: What sort of actions minimize frustration and lack of project performance?

Adopting Clearly Defined Project Initiation Processes: if projects are aligned with strategic business objectives, they are more likely to receive financial and operational support, and therefore to be successful. Tying operations incentives to critical IT initiatives can help obtain staff “acceptance” and critical process – owner assistance.

Implementing Project Portfolio Management Approaches: Managing a broad portfolio of projects according to clear performance indicators and measures help to identify “at-risk” projects and lead to earlier interventions appropriate to solving the problem. These interventions can include resource re-allocations, scope adjustments, emergency funding, or even cancellation.

Most Commonly Experienced by: All Executive Staff, Boards, and External Advisers

Relevant Services: IT Strategy, Process, Management: Interim CIO / vCIO