The document discusses common pitfalls in IT project implementations and offers solutions to avoid them, emphasizing the importance of clear communication and collaboration between customers and service providers. It outlines nine typical problems faced during these projects and provides recommendations such as ensuring justified pricing, maintaining iterative development processes, and establishing clear project goals. The article highlights that a successful IT project requires active involvement from both the customer and the provider to align interests and expectations.

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2. Page 59The Outsourcing Journal “ITO&BPO GERMANY FORUM ISSUE Q4/14” All rights reserved.
9 Ways to
Fail Your
IT-Project
By Olga Yatsyna, Public Relations &
Marketing Manager, Softengi LLC,
Ukraine
Aboutnine steps to become an enemy of your
ITcontractorandbringyourITproject
tofailure.

3. Page 60 The Outsourcing Journal “ITO&BPO GERMANY FORUM ISSUE Q4/14” All rights reserved.
IT-PROJECTS
T
he customer, who works
with an IT company, or
business department,
working with its internal IT de-
partment, originally are on the
same side of the fence. Busi-
ness wants to improve its ef-
ficiency or performance and
reduce costs through IT. The IT
industry representatives want
to pass the project, which will
be a nice addition to their “our
cases” page, and get the mon-
ey. All of them seem to be in
the same boat and should be
happy.
The problems in this perfect
world begin when the two
sides find themselves on oppo-
site sides of the barricades, be-
cause at some point something
has not been taken into ac-
count. The customer becomes
unhappy with the poor per-
formance of the executor. The
outsourcing provider believes
that it is the mistake made by
the customer. Former partners
acquire different interests, and
the project turns into a great
sadness.
In the following we have gath-
ered nine typical problems en-
countered when implement-
ing IT projects, and nine ways
to address them based on the
experience of Softengi project
managers.
1.“Wow, so cheap!
Probably you, guys,
are the most honest”
Too low price at the initial stage
should at least alert the cus-
tomer. Too high price - too. As a
general rule, if the cost of work
is too low – the contractor did
not consider something in the
price assessment.
Solution: the price must be
justified. Pricing should be
transparent to the customer.
Remember that price is impor-
tant when you choose an out-
sourcing provider, but should
not be the determining factor.
You can select two or three IT
providers based on references
and good portfolio, and use
then the price factor for the fi-
nal selection.
2.“We want warm
green. Warmer. The
warmest”
During the development the
customer and the contractor
often “get stuck” in details. Go-
ing too much into details slows
down the development, chews
up budget and time. This leads
to the fact that the team mills
about, time is running out, the
budget is used.
Solution: perhaps the warmth
of the button is not so vitally
important for the user? It often
turns out that the detail stop-
ping the project as a result will
be not even visible for the user.
A tip from our creative PMs: do
the project as an artist paints a
picture - rough strokes, draw-
ing first the background and
basic elements, and painting in
the details later.
3.“Do as you wish
and then we will
see”
Insufficient interaction of IT-
employees with business repre-
sentatives. The customer “buys
off”withthemoney,leavingeve-
rything at the whim of the out-
sourcing provider, and when the
system is ready – sends tons of
comments. IT-guys and business
seem to be moving in the same
orbit with the same goals, but
do not meet each other. At the
same time inside there is a pro-
ject with its goals and objectives
known only by the business, and
the business shall direct it.
Solution: get involved in the
project, but do not become a
member of the IT team. The in-
teraction of customers and ser-
vice provider is one of three key
success factors, according to the
CHAOS Manifesto report by The

4. Page 61The Outsourcing Journal “ITO&BPO GERMANY FORUM ISSUE Q4/14” All rights reserved.
IT-PROJECTS
Standish Group.
4.“Here is some SAP
data, integrate them
somewhere”
Insufficiently clear statement of
requirements in the specifica-
tion. Another extreme situation
– too detailed development of
specification. It takes too much
time and money of the custom-
er.
Solution: no fanaticism. The
specification should be broad
enough to ensure that the IT
company could think out the
missing details and get started.
Here customer involvement is
also important. It is also possible
to hire/involve analyst for speci-
fication development.
5.“I was thinking a
bit and now changed
my mind”
Constant changes of specifica-
tion. IT company implements
the customer’s vision in the pro-
ject, but in the process the cus-
tomer understands that every-
thing so beautifully described in
the specification will not satisfy
him. Or something is not consid-
ered. “And this is normal,” - said
all together our PMs.
If an IT company in advance does
not foresee changes of the spec-
ification in the process of work,
the customer will not be happy
because what he gets is not
what he wants. Moreover, if one
changes specification or works
separately from it, the project
team will be demotivated and
will reply“it is impossible”to any
request from the customer to
change already developed func-
tions.
Solution: to find out in advance
if an IT company is ready to work
by a flexible methodology allow-
ing changing the requirements
at any stage of work.
6.“It was me who
ordered this?”
Long period between the start
of work and the first/each subse-
quent delivery of the product. IT
company accepts specification,
develops something and comes
back after three or four months.
Thus so called “dead zones” oc-
cur between the start of the pro-
ject and the first delivery when
the customer has no idea what is
happening on the project. In this
case, he can only trust and wait
till the first product delivery, re-
ceiving then first problems with
the first delivery. Because it can
well-developed, but it is not any-
“The interaction of
customers and ser-
vice provider is one
of three key success
factors,...”

5. Page 62 The Outsourcing Journal “ITO&BPO GERMANY FORUM ISSUE Q4/14” All rights reserved.
IT-PROJECTS
more what the client needs.
Solution: the most frequent and
early deliveries.The product may
look not so sexy yet, but you can
already see the working func-
tional and approve further steps.
7.“The board of di-
rectors decided…”
Unrealistic deadlines by the cus-
tomer due to“political decisions”
- the board of directors deter-
mines that the product must be
launched in a month. It is a trap
for everybody. Even if you invest
million dollars in a project, “nine
women can’t make a baby in a
month”. This situation and the
ways to solve were described by
Fred Brooks in his “The Mythical
Man-Month”.
Solution: fix time and budget,
then you can avoid the trap
when the budget is exceeded,
time is out, and the desired func-
tionality is not yet developed.
Develop incrementally only the
most needed functionality.
8.“We will pay for
this system sharp ten
thousand”
Fixed price for the project. Every-
body measures project by budg-
et and that is normal. The cus-
tomer always requires the exact
amount, but at an early stage it
can be difficult for IT companies
to assess exactly the scope of
work. Therefore, the outsourcing
providers are overbudgeting to
cover all risks and include them
in the project, which results in
high costs for the customer. If
the contractor had made a mis-
take in the assessment, even
over evaluated budget will be
exceeded.
Solution: get away from the
fixed price and use module
price breakdown, estimating
separately each module of the
system, or use flexible method-
ology, breaking cost of work by
iterations.
9.“Well, this is a sys-
tem to solve some-
thing there”
Unclear goals and objectives
of the product for the develop-
ment team. This point comes
last, because its importance is
not obvious. However, Softengi’s
experience shows that this point
should be first and foremost.The
team often does not get a clear
description of the project impor-
tance, its goals and objectives.
The project starts as “dry” speci-
fication, functional description
and the contractor does not fully
understand the importance of
the project.

6. IT-PROJECTS
Solution: get involved in the
project at least at the initial
stage and explain the team the
importance of the system for
the society/company.
It is not necessary to see an
outsourcing provider or your
IT department as chairwarmers
dreaming only to exceed the
budget. With properly aligned
relationship, the outsourcing
companywillbecomeapartner
interested in a positive result,
no less than you. The custom-
er from his side should always
be involved in the project, un-
derstand what he eventually
wants to get, not afraid to ask
questions, and sometimes still,
listening to the advice of pro-
fessionals.
The author: Olga Yatsyna is a public relations and Internet
marketing professional, specializing in IT field. After holding
a degree in translation, she has been working as a journalist
and translator in online European magazine and a contribu-
tor in IT-related media. Currently she is working as Public Re-
lations & Marketing Manager at Softengi software develop-
ment company www.softengi.com
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