Why an IT Project Fails? - Guide To Communicating Value

There can be a variety of causes as to why IT projects fail, and each failure differs from another in a slightly different way depending on the nature of the plan, problems encountered along the way, and what proved to be catalyst? More often project failures occur as a result of insufficient preparation and in some cases aiming for heights, that the available resources aren’t in a position to capacitate.

Different companies work in different environments and not every situation is similar, however there are general patterns that tend to appear when projects fall short of the requirements. Here are a number of reasons why an IT project fails and some suggestions on how IT professionals can really avoid these pitfalls.

Information Technology has a liability to jump in and then get started on the projects before fully understanding the scope of the project. When considering what is actually required by the business, technology can help assemble the hard work as well as provide a proper understanding of where the line should actually fall.

At first, a thorough understanding of the project must be prioritized. To start with implementation straightaway is like taking a leap in the dark and more often than not, you’ll be disappointed with the results that you get in the end.

A number of projects have ROI estimations as a Check-Box item. Specially when project costs are believed to be low or the outcomes are suspected to be notably good. Beware of the slippery slope when talking about Free solutions, they may cost you a ton.

Many IT projects never pass on to the business totally, but in actual are a constant generator for requests for IT to switch the system available. A number of dashboards and reports falls into this particular category.

While moving towards an IT project takes a lot of insight, planning, persuasion to make the course stay, and the courage in order to amend your course when required. Networked environments are considered to be more difficult places and there are often no easy answers for that. So, by acknowledging that problems and mistakes are likely to happen, it is considered to be better prepared in advance for dealing with the issues when they do emerge. So, hopefully you can be aware of these common pitfalls which may help you to plan your next project easily.

Technically, there are only two reasons that fail a project:

1. Using some language, that is not best for a project. This generally happens due to the preferences of the team leads. So, ensure that the technology aligns with what is best for the project.

2. The people involved in the project are not much experienced to fulfill their desired roles. Which means that you cannot hand out the roles without careful thought-process. Also, ensure that each person has a particular role to play while executing the project that they are capable of completing.

Proper planning prevents poor performance. This is certainly true when considering IT projects. So the projects need a lot of planning if they are going to be successful anyhow.

The plans executed by the tech departments are sometimes full of problems such as:

– having an inappropriate scope or objective.

– fault factor in enough time or money.

An effective software project plan involves processes, tools and software. It hinges on the side of caution when calculating and assigning the right people the right kind of role in the project. This whitepaper How To Plan A Software Project here could be used as a handy guide to eliminate such pitfalls.

It is a tough decision to put a project to an end after starting it once, but at times it is a much intelligent course of action too. Occasionally, you may go in a wrong direction while selecting the technology, for instance there is a price rise while buying a software or even a change in the needs of the project. Any of these may cause a cost-restrictive project or one that may contains more difficulty than its actual worth.

As they say that discretion is the better part of valor. Remember, every step you take forward needs clarity with positive points in evidence. Undoubtedly, it’s more rational to stop throwing a good amount of of money on a project which is not upto the mark than to senselessly persisting in the cause. Remember you really need to pull the plug sometimes.