The document discusses common errors that occur in IT project management and how to avoid them. It identifies 11 frequent errors such as lack of executive support, lack of business ownership and accountability, and lack of user involvement. For each error, it describes the potential impacts and provides solutions to address the problem, such as building an executive summary, clarifying sponsor roles, and involving users early in the project. The conclusion emphasizes obtaining executive support, ensuring project accountability, managing user expectations, identifying dependencies between projects, controlling scope creep, and formally tracking schedules.

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COMMON ERRORS IN IT PROJECT
MANAGEMENT AND HOW TO
AVOID THEM
PMI Montreal
04-FEB-09

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Introduction
Olivier Abécassis, PMP, ITSM
Svetlana Sidenko, PMP, ITSM, MSc (Admin)
IT CHAPTER : training & consulting

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IT Projects keep failing…
Standish Group research:
Only 29% of IT projects are completed successfully
2007 study by Dynamic Markets Limited
62% of IT projects fail to meet their schedules
49% suffered budget overruns
47% had higher-than-expected maintenance costs
41% failed to deliver the expected business value

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5%
12%
14%
14%
55%
0% 20% 40% 60%
Misalignment between business and project objectives
Project Team gets powerless by going through too much
processes
PM processes being viewed as extra overhead
Project Team doesn't follow a standard, repeatable
project management process
Lack of executive support; project sponsor is not 100%
committed to the objectives, lacks understanding of the
project and is not actively involved
PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESSES AND METHODOLOGY
1 - Lack of executive support

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1 - Lack of executive support
IMPACT
Unlikely to assign needed resources
Lack of company-wide visibility of the project
Executives less likely to defend the project
Difficult to engage cross-functional teams

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1 - Lack of executive support
SOLUTION / AT PROJECT INITIATION
Build your executive summary
Build a business case (ROI)
Have GANTT Chart with hard milestones
Clarify roles and responsibility of the sponsor.
SOLUTION / AT PROJECT EXECUTION
Manage the sponsor as you would manage any other project resource
TIP
Executives want numbers, status reports and no surprises

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12%
20%
28%
40%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Insufficient or non-existent approval process
Unclear or unconvincing business case
Lack of thoroughness and diligence in the project start-
up phases
Lack of business ownership and accountability
PROJECT INITIATION ISSUES
2 - Lack of business ownership and accountability

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2 - Lack of business ownership and accountability
IMPACT
Tasks slippages , low quality of deliverables, team/project
conflicts
SOLUTION
Define your RACI chart
Make project tasks VISIBLE among stakeholders
Use a defined communication mechanism
Engage the end-user/client
Eliminate excuses!
TIP: One task , one owner.

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5%
5%
12%
12%
20%
46%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Wrong or inappropriate technological choices
Unfamiliar or changing technologies; lack of required
technical skills
Product owner unclear or consistently not available
Long and unpredictable bug fixing phase at the end of
the project
Integration problems during implementation
Lack of user involvement (resulting in expectation issues)
TECHNICAL AND REQUIREMENTS ISSUES
3 - Lack of user involvement

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3 - Lack of user involvement
IMPACT
Unrealistic expectations about how and when things will be done
Scope creep
SOLUTION
Involve Users very early
Look for Subject Matter Experts and User representatives
Set clear expectations about User’s participation
Set requirements “in stone” to prevent scope creep

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2%
17%
20%
24%
37%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Project schedules are incomplete
Insufficient time or money given to project
Lack of sufficient planning
Lack of understanding requirements
Failing to see the dependencies between projects
PROJECT INTEGRATION MANAGEMENT
4 - Failing to see dependencies between projects

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4 - Failing to see dependencies between projects
IMPACT
Unrealistic project completion times
Missed opportunities to address potential problems early
Domino effect across the pipeline of projects
SOLUTION
GANTT chart, Critical Path
Find your Subject Matter Experts
Take dependencies into account during project planning, via project
diagramming

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7%
21%
32%
40%
0% 20% 40%
Not tracking changes to the scope of the project
Scope of the project is too vague
Not taking enough time to define the scope of the
project
Scope creep; lack of adequate change control
PROJECT SCOPE MANAGEMENT
5 - Scope Creep - lack of adequate change control

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5 - Scope Creep - lack of adequate change control
IMPACT
The budget for the project explodes. So does the timeline.
SOLUTION
Establish a formal change request process: at the IT project initiation
phase
Evaluate the effects of changed requirements on: timescale, cost and
risk
Use phased approach: change will have less chance to affect
development
If change is inevitable: follow change control process
Project Sponsor has to sign off the change-in-scope request

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21%
31%
48%
0% 20% 40% 60%
IT does not push back on unreasonable deadlines
Project deadlines are ignored by the project team
members
Projects are rushed in order to speed through
development efforts and systems implementations
PROJECT TIME MANAGEMENT
6 - Projects are rushed to speed through
development efforts and system implementation

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IMPACT
Quality is compromised and budget is impacted
Customer Requirements are not met
SOLUTION
Track and review progress regularly
Documenting important decisions, deliverables and milestones
Re-plan and reschedule to accommodate new initiatives
Issue a procedure for schedule change
6 - Projects are rushed to speed through
development efforts and system implementation

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7%
22%
32%
39%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Project Cost over-run
Project budget is mismanaged
Project budget is not managed by the Project Manager
Project budget is underestimated
PROJECT COST MANAGEMENT
7 - Project Budget is underestimated

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7 - Project Budget is underestimated
IMPACT
Project may be cancelled
Project will not be able to face unplanned issues
SOLUTION
Involve the right people in budget estimation exercise
Allocate enough contingency in the budget
Do deep analysis of the current technical environment
Do NOT accept budget cut upfront under
executive pressure

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2%
17%
29%
52%
0% 20% 40% 60%
Projects lack experienced Project Managers
Projects lack the right resources with the right skills
IT staff are not dedicated to project-work (inability to
estimate their availability to work on a given project and
inaccuracies in task estimation)
Team members have other multiple priorities in
organization
PROJECT HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
8 - Team members have other multiple priorities
in organization

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8 - Team members have other multiple priorities
in organization
IMPACT
Puts stress on the team members
Reduces productivity and quality of deliverables
SOLUTION
Discuss the project with the line manager
Come to agreement about how you will handle conflicting priorities
If conflicting priorities will start to affect your project performance, rely
on your agreed-upon procedures

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22%
26%
52%
0% 20% 40% 60%
Inadequate testing
Test plan development and implementation can be
viewed as wasted time or overkill
Poorly defined Project Quality criteria
PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT
9 - Poorly defined Project Quality criteria

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9 - Poorly defined Project Quality criteria
IMPACT
Decisions to act on non-quality (bugs) are difficult to take
Early versions of project deliverables do not meet quality standards
Team spends time and $ fixing the wrong problem
SOLUTION
Agree up-front on project success criteria and measures
Put a quality measurement and reporting system in place
Address quality issues immediately
Reassess quality criteria (if necessary)

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7%
19%
19%
22%
33%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Communication to stakeholders and executives is too
technical ( i.e. hundreds of pages of specs)
Poor collaboration, communication and teamwork
Inadequate visibility of project status
Insufficient attention to stakeholders and their needs;
failure to manage expectations
Lack of communication planning
PROJECT COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT
10 - Lack of communication planning

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10 - Lack of communication planning
IMPACT
Even best managed projects, delivering on all their promises can still
get a bad reputation and be perceived as failures
SOLUTION
Identify the different category of stakeholder and define
communication methods that best suits the group:
Executive Sponsor/Business Sponsor
Project Team Members
Customers/Users
Project Management Office (PMO)
Project Manager-yourself!

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20%
21%
23%
36%
0% 20% 40%
Risk Management strategy is poorly identified from the
beginning of the project
Project Risks are ignored
Project Risks are poorly managed
Project Risks are poorly identified from the beginning
of the project
PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT
11 - Project risks are poorly identified from the
beginning of the Project

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What is Murphy’s law?
“If there are two or more ways to do something, and
one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then
someone will do it” (Edward A. Murphy Jr, 1947)
Anything that can go wrong, will – at the worst
possible moment.

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Train wreck at Paris Montparnasse 1895
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong

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Bread & Butter Law
I never had a slice of bread,
Particularly large and wide,
That did not fall upon the floor,
And always on the buttered side.
American newspaper in Norwalk, Ohio, 1841

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11 - Project risks are poorly identified from the
beginning of the Project
IMPACT
Project delay, cost over-run, early termination of the project
SOLUTION
Brainstorm with stakeholders to predict possible threats to the project
Focus on the quantity of risks
Record all mentioned risks
Build risk management plan and maintain it.

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Conclusion : How to avoid common errors in IT
Projects
1. Obtain executive support
2. Ensure project accountability. One task – one owner
3. Manage expectations of your End-Users by involving them early in the
projects
4. Use help of your SMEs to identify dependencies between projects
5. Introduce formal Change Control procedure to avoid Scope creep
6. Introduce formal procedure to track your schedule and document all
important decisions regarding re-scheduling
7. Carefully estimate your budget with contingency
8. Agree with line department manager about how to handle conflicting
priorities of project resources
9. Clearly define Project Quality Criteria
10. Use Project communication methods that best suit your various groups of
project stakeholders
11. Include your stakeholders from all levels of the company to predict project
risks. Issue a Risk Log and maintain it

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References
Project Management: The 14 Most Common Mistakes IT
Departments Make , July 23 2008, Meredith Levinson, www.cio.com
Project Communication: how to keep your team engaged and
informed. November 13, 2008 | Author: PM Hut
http://www.pmhut.com
How to cheat at IT Project Management , 2005, Susan Snedaker,
www.syngress.com