The document discusses factors that contribute to project failure and success. It notes that 75% of IT projects fail according to Gartner, failing to meet goals for time, cost, or quality. Common causes of failure include lack of senior management support, poor stakeholder engagement, weak requirements definition, and inadequate risk management. The document emphasizes that successful projects focus on people and process, prioritizing engagement, clear requirements, planning, testing, and tracking benefits realization. Managing both the technical and human aspects of change is key to maximizing the chances of project success.

1. It’s not what you do, it’s the way that
you do it…
Jane Deal
Head of Information & Knowledge Systems
RNIB
6th March 2012

2. Content
• About RNIB
• The anatomy of projects
• What is project failure?
• Causes of failure
• How can we maximise success?
• Conclusion
• Questions

3. About RNIB
• Leading UK charity offering information, support
& advice to >2m people with sight loss
• 3 strategic priorities, 11 goals, 8 programmes
• ~2,000 staff & ~4,000 volunteers
• Associations
• Many things to many people:
• Membership, campaigning, advocacy, education &
social care, helpline, library, talking
books, innovation, transcription, products &
publications, consultancy…

4. The anatomy of projects
• Projects have multiple elements that need
to be effectively managed
• Relevant to all projects, vital for IT change
• According to Gartner, 75% of all IT
projects ‘fail’

5. What is project failure?
Time
• Failure to deliver
• on time
Cost Quality
• within budget
• to quality
• Comparatively few achieve all three
• Some will fail on at least one criterion
• Many will fail on all three
• …and at a cost

6. Causes of failure
• Multiple interlinked factors
• Some of the most common areas:
• Senior Management ownership
• Stakeholder engagement
• User involvement
• Communication
• Project management skills & approach
• Timescales/expectations
•

7. Causes of failure
• Requirements definition/prioritisation
• Change control
• Testing
• Risk management
• Supplier Management
• Accountability for benefits realisation

8. How can we maximise success?
• The way that projects are established
and managed is critical to improving the
chances of success.
• 2 main themes:
• people
• process

9. People
Successful change is heavily dependent on
people who need:
• Engagement
• Involvement
• Ownership
• Communication

10. People - Emotional Response to
Change
Response curve:

11. People – issues
• Lack of buy in – ‘What’s in it for me?’
• Lack of understanding and ownership of
benefits and their delivery
• What do I actually need?
• Local issues vs big picture
• Conflicting priorities / limited capacity
• Politics

12. People – Roles &
Responsibilities
• Who is sponsoring the project and
accountable for its success?
• Who is needed to deliver the project and
will they be made available when
needed?
• Who is accountable for delivering the
benefits?
• Who will track the benefits and how?
• Who will manage the project?…

13. People – Project Manager
• Specific skill set
• Right person for the job:
• Dedicated to the project
• Knowledge of business is not enough
• Permanent vs contract.
• Support for project managers:
• Experienced or new to the role?
• Match the project to their experience
• Provide PM and other training (risk, planning, etc.)

14. Process
• Proven approach
• Common, consistent methodology
• Scalable
• Interchangeable
• Recruitment
• Lessons learned/best practice

15. Process
• Prioritisation
• Agreed roadmap for the organisation
• Optimum deployment of finite resources
• Dependencies
• Impact on change recipients
• Expect the unexpected!

16. Process
• Requirements
• Clear
• Clean
• Consistent
• Complete
• Credible
• Prioritised (MoSCoW)
• Can you test them?
• Scope creep!

17. Process
• Planning
• What will we deliver?
• How will we implement it?
- ‘Big bang’ vs phased
- Pilot?
• Who needs to be involved – are they available?
• By when do we need to deliver it?
- Realistic & short
- Who will be affected and when
- Take time to plan: implement in haste, repent at leisure

18. Process
• Manage risk
• What might drive the plan off course?
- Representative selection!
- Likelihood and impact
• Counter measures
• What will you do with the risk?
- Eliminate/reduce
- Share/transfer
- Accept
• Suppliers!

19. Process
• Testing
• Developer testing
• User acceptance testing
• Most effective if:
- Requirements can be tested
- Tests are well-designed and planned
- Users are adequately trained
- Sufficient time allowed for testing

20. Process
• Realise the benefits!
• What are they?
• Can you measure them?
• How will you measure them?
• Who will measure them?
• Ownership and accountability!
This is what the project is for… isn’t it?

21. Conclusion
• Know what you want
• Be realistic
• Prioritise
• Plan & test
• Commit (the right) resources
• Manage the risks
• Track the benefits
• RAG

22. Above all…
• Engage
• Involve
• Communicate

23. Questions?