The Operation was a success, but the patient died
What goes wrong in IT projects
You have a need to improve performance of your business. You hear from your friends in the business that someone bought new software that significantly reduced costs, improved productivity or increased sales. You go out and buy the same software and expect the same results. You are disappointed and frustrated with the results.
Why did this happen?
Technology projects have a tendency to take on a life of their own. When you start, you have a specific goal, say to improve productivity. You decide that the way to do it is to implement the new software. From that point on, the total focus becomes to implement the software, assuming that it will achieve the objective. Your supplier will focus here, because it's in their best interest, but so will your staff, unless you maintain the focus on the business goal.
During any IT project, problems will be encountered and decisions must be made. When the decisions are made, they will often be made in favour of "successful" implementation, not what improves productivity. Quite often the decision can restrict your ability to meet that business objective.
What can you do about it?
- Start by clearly defining your goal.
- Identify how using the software will help you meet that goal (check out the article on business processes).
- For every issue encountered, every decision made, assess how it will impact your goal.
- Keep everybody focused on your business goal. Measure success, not by implementation of the software, but how well it helped to meet your goal.
© 2008 M. E. Lachance & Associates Ltd.
Marc Lachance
www.thevirtualcio.ca
416-358-1389
