According to a study conducted by the Standish group in 2009, only 32 % of all Information Technology (IT) projects were successful. They were delivered on time, on budget and with required features and function. 44% were challenged with being late, over budget and with fewer features. 24% failed and were cancelled prior to completion or delivered without being used.

1. Why Do IT Projects Fail?
by Austin Umezurike, Ph.D
According to a study conducted by the Standish group in 2009, only 32 % of all Information
Technology (IT) projects were successful. They were delivered on time, on budget and with
required features and function. 44% were challenged with being late, over budget and with fewer
features. 24% failed and were cancelled prior to completion or delivered without being used.
This chaos report was considered intriguing given the available pool of project managers in the
United States. So, why did most of the projects (68%) not meet their contractual obligation by
being late, over budget or outright failure?
IT projects fail due to a catalog of reasons which include the following:
• Improper requirements gathering: The project requirements should be appropriately
documented through meetings, focus groups, reports and interviews.
• Scope Creep: More often than not, the project scope does not usually cover the entire
spectrum of work to be implemented. This leads to progressive elaboration with
associated adjustment of work scope and request for additional features not previously
included.
• Change Management Control Board: Absence of change control board makes it possible
for unnecessary changes and additions to be accepted in an ongoing project without full
assessment of potential impacts.
• Inadequate risk management plan: Absence of risk planning, qualitative and quantitative
risk assessment processes make it difficult to be proactive about potential risks. Risk
response plans should be put in place to mitigate risk impact.
• Lack of management support: If top management does not support a major project by
providing required financial and human resources, the project is bound to fail.
• Triple Constraints: Inability to balance the triple constraints of cost, schedule and budget
in order to insure project quality. If there is a change in one of the tripods of the triple
constraints, the other two would be affected.
• Improper use of forecasting techniques such as EVM: Project managers should correctly
utilize forecast techniques such as earned value management (EVM) to enable them
determine whether project is behind or ahead of schedule and on budget.
• Communication: There should be effective communication between project teams and
stakeholders. Communication channels, levels, frequency and methods should be
determined during planning.

2. • Project Management methodology: Correct choice of project management methodology
to fit project goals should be adopted. Examples include: Software development lifecycle
(SDLC), Waterfall, Scrum, Agile or Extreme Programming (XP) depending on client
need.
• Project Management Skill: Projects should be led by trained project managers who
understand project management techniques, strategy, knowledge areas and process
groups in line with project management institute’s standards and requirement.
Considerations for the above measures during project planning and implementation would
radically improve project outcome and success rate
Reference:
Standish Group, (2009). Chaos Report. Retrieved September 1, 2013
from http://www1.standishgroup.com/newsroom/chaos_2009.php
Dr. Austin Umezurike is an information technology projects director with Global High Technology
Consulting.