discover new features that they might like to add to the project as it progresses. This is easy to minimise – it is up to the client, and the contractor should not be held responsible for late delivery if the goal posts keep on moving.

They can, however, be blamed if the lateness is caused by a bad estimate. Some might point ou

Introduction

It is a fact – IT project failure rates are among the highest across all industries. This should not scare anyone away from embarking on large scale IT projects, but it is important to understand why IT projects fail, so that even if one cannot avoid becoming part of these statistics, at least some measure of success can be enjoyed.

Part of the reason why the 'failure' rate is so high is due to the complexity and intangibility of software. It can not be seen, touched, or evaluated beyond actually interacting with it. Behind the scenes it is such a complex interaction of pieces, each built upon the other, that it can quite often not be understood fully by a single individual.

It is often said that an IT project can be late and finished, on time and unfinished, or within budget. At most, one can have two out of three, but an IT project that is complete, on budget, and delivered on time is almost unheard of.

Late Projects

There are many things that can cause a project to become late. Late projects are usually over budget simply by virtue of the fact that they cost more (in terms of actual wages paid) or that they cause higher costs due to their delay.

One of the most common causes of true over-running is that the client introduces unnecessary changes along the way, as they discover new features that they might like to add to the project as it progresses. This is easy to minimise – it is up to the client, and the contractor should not be held responsible for late delivery if the goal posts keep on moving.

They can, however, be blamed if the lateness is caused by a bad estimate. Some might point ou

ss can be enjoyed.

Part of the reason why the 'failure' rate is so high is due to the complexity and intangibility of software. It can not be seen, touched, or evaluated beyond actually interacting with it. Behind the scenes it is such a complex interaction of pieces, each built upon the other, that it can quite often not be understood fully by a single individual.

It is often said that an IT project can be late and finished, on time and unfinished, or within budget. At most, one can have two out of three, but an IT project that is complete, on budget, and delivered on time is almost unheard of.

Late Projects

There are many things that can cause a project to become late. Late projects are usually over budget simply by virtue of the fact that they cost more (in terms of actual wages paid) or that they cause higher costs due to their delay.

One of the most common causes of true over-running is that the client introduces unnecessary changes along the way, as they discover new features that they might like to add to the project as it progresses. This is easy to minimise – it is up to the client, and the contractor should not be held responsible for late delivery if the goal posts keep on moving.

They can, however, be blamed if the lateness is caused by a bad estimate. Some might point ou

derstood fully by a single individual.

It is often said that an IT project can be late and finished, on time and unfinished, or within budget. At most, one can have two out of three, but an IT project that is complete, on budget, and delivered on time is almost unheard of.

Late Projects

There are many things that can cause a project to become late. Late projects are usually over budget simply by virtue of the fact that they cost more (in terms of actual wages paid) or that they cause higher costs due to their delay.

One of the most common causes of true over-running is that the client introduces unnecessary changes along the way, as they discover new features that they might like to add to the project as it progresses. This is easy to minimise – it is up to the client, and the contractor should not be held responsible for late delivery if the goal posts keep on moving.

They can, however, be blamed if the lateness is caused by a bad estimate. Some might point ou

n cause a project to become late. Late projects are usually over budget simply by virtue of the fact that they cost more (in terms of actual wages paid) or that they cause higher costs due to their delay.

One of the most common causes of true over-running is that the client introduces unnecessary changes along the way, as they discover new features that they might like to add to the project as it progresses. This is easy to minimise – it is up to the client, and the contractor should not be held responsible for late delivery if the goal posts keep on moving.

They can, however, be blamed if the lateness is caused by a bad estimate. Some might point ou

discover new features that they might like to add to the project as it progresses. This is easy to minimise – it is up to the client, and the contractor should not be held responsible for late delivery if the goal posts keep on moving.

They can, however, be blamed if the lateness is caused by a bad estimate. Some might point out that bad information causes the bad estimate, but it is the responsibility of the contractor to make sure that they have correctly understood – which is why a third party project manager is quite often useful in providing an interface between the two parties.

This also helps in the planning and crisis management, as well as making sure that the project stays within scope. Since the third party is acting for both sides, and usually paid for by both sides, even if not directly, they are able to help both sides. This is useful if there is a danger of communications becoming fraught, as many projects fail simply as a result of a deteriorating relationship between client and contactor.

One legitimate cause of late projects is the change in scope or technology. While these need to be allowed, simply due to the nature of IT, they must be kept to a minimum, unless a rolling project can be set up in which new technology is always taken advantage of, and the project never really finishes.

Over Budget Projects

Late projects cause costs. There are two ways to deal with this; accept the increase in cost, or reduce the scope so that the project fits into the budget and accept that it will not be finished. The balance to find is where the increase in cost justifies the end product, and that the lateness asso