Long-Duration IT Projects - Failure Causes
Long-Duration IT Projects - Failure Causes
Let us recap the recent failures of large IT Projects in particular.
Billion Dollar IT Failure at Census Bureau according to the author Michael Krigsman in the article "IT Project Failures" dated March 20th 2008. (ZDNET)
As per the article in NYT, FBI spent $170 million to create a program that would give agents ready access to information on suspected terrorists and found that it's not even close to having a working system. ("DOES NOT COMPUTE - Jan 22nd 2005 New York Times)
The famous 3 project failures at DMV Offices (California DMV in 1987, Oregon DMV in 1993 & Washington in 1997 - Failure Examples IT-Cortex Magazine
Most of the Federal Projects are overviewed by Government Accountability Office and could be one of the reason why the IT industry hear about failed Federal projects only.
Large IT projects are those that have:
Duration is more than 3 years
Budgeted amount is more than $10 million
One of the main reasons why large IT projects fail is the duration of the Project. The three factors that play vital role during the Project duration are:
Technology Challenges:
During the olden days prior to the Client-Server Revolution, most of the IT projects are on a Single-Platform mainly Mainframes using a single programming language depending upon the application. So, even if the implementation of the application is 2 to 3 years away, there is minimum concern about the changes in the hardware/software that they are used at the start of the project. Also, during these days, based on the type of application, the Software/Hardware is chosen. It was pretty clear that if it's a Business Application, then its COBOL and if it is a Scientific application or a Business applications where a numbers a crunched rigorously (like Mutual Funds) then its FORTRAN.
The IT industry went through a volatile revolution since 1990. During the early 90's, most of the applications were developed or re-written in dBase, Clipper or FoxBase. Once the Microsoft fever spread in the IT industry, applications were developed using Visual Basic or "OOPS" methodology. With the Internet Boom came a cocktail of web-based languages and packages. The current trend is to develop in JAVA and other technologies that it supports. Unfortunately, most of these newer software languages behave like Jack-of-All but Master in None.
This volatility of the applications development base creates an uncertainty for large IT projects. As an example, if the Project Manager or Technical Lead decides to use a third-party software for their application then, at the time of Project Implementation, all fingers will be crossed if the third-party files for a bankruptcy or unwilling to support their older versions. At this juncture, let us not even consider maintaining the application for a decade or so. Having spent so much money and time, very few Senior Managers would encourage rewriting it every time the IT industry gets a new Software fever.
Economical Challenges:
With this current Global Economics, any country's GDP might be impacted, if there is a small economic disruption in some part of the world. For long duration IT Projects, any economic bad news is a threat. Recently, in US the sub-prime mortgage crisis impacted a number of Financial Institutions which led to a number of layoffs and other strict budget cuts. A long-duration IT Project in this Scenario is sure to be scrapped or kept on-hold.
Social Challenges:
During the olden days, most of the IT projects were developed in-house and mostly with their Employees. These Employees are not only well-versed with the daily business procedures but also, are aware of the past Software changes done on those applications. Those were the days where Employees are treated as an asset to the Company and there was loyalty from both the sides. The newer generation brought a completely newer concept - CONSULTANCY Services. These so-called Software Consultants are easily dispensable. Most of the Companies started treating their Employees as a liable partner. This notion is one of the reasons for the initiation of distrust between the Employee and Employer. For long duration IT Projects, disloyal Employees and un-committed Consultants are the biggest setbacks. In a long-duration Project, if the number of Consultants out-numbers the Employees, there is a possibility of Communication distortion. Even the vice-versa is true. As per Standish Group Chaos Report, team communication plays a vital role for the success of the Project.
