Risk Management for IT Projects

Contents
Preface xv
Part I
Issues and Risk Management
Chapter 1
Introduction
Common IT-Related Problems 3
Why IT Efforts Fail 5
IT Differs from Other Types of Business Work 7
How IT and the Business Have Changed 8
IT and Politics 9
The Management View of IT 9
Issues and Risk 9
Types of Issues 10
The Life Cycle of an Issue 11
Some Common Problems in Issues Management 12
Issues Across Projects 12
Problems Versus Opportunities 13
The Goals of IT 13
Process Improvement and Reengineering 14
General Approach to Issues and Risk Management 15
Organization of the Book 15
Conclusions 16
Chapter 2
Effective Issues Management and Coordination
Introduction 17
General Management of Issues 18
The Issues Databases 19
Getting Started 21
Defi ning Issues at the Start of Projects and Work 23
Tracking of Issues and Risk 24
User and Vendor Issue Coordination 27
Issue and Risk Communications and Reporting 27
Handling Issues Within the IT Organization 29
Decision Making and Follow-up 30
Dealing with Multiple Issues 30
Coping with Recurring Issues 31
Conclusions 32
Chapter 3
Analysis and Measurements of Issues and Risk
Introduction 33
Problems with Standard Measurements 34
Management Critical Path 35
Multiple Project Analysis 39
Tracking Status Using Issues and Risk 39
Total Issues 42
Open Issues 42
Uncontrolled Versus Controlled Open Issues 43
Aging of Open Issues 43
Average Time to Resolve Issues 44
Distribution of Open Issues by Type 45
Issues by Type over Time 46
Selection of Issues for Decisions and Actions 46
Perspective on Different Issues 47
Project Evaluation 48
Project Termination 48
Conclusions 49
Internal Issues and Risk
Chapter 4
Teams
Introduction 53
Lack of Teamwork 54
Team Members or Departments That Do Not Get Along with One
Another 56
Team Members That Are Diffi cult to Manage 58
Wide Range of Experience and Knowledge Among Team
Members 60
Project or Work Leader Who Is Junior and Lacks
Experience 62
Substantial Turnover Among Team Members 64
Lack of Motivation 66
Not Much Communication Among Team Members and Outside of the
Team 67
New Team Member Has to Be Socialized into the Group 68
Team Member Performance That Does Not Seem to Improve over
Time 69
Too Much Time Spent in Meetings 70
Conclusions 71
Chapter 5
The Work
Introduction 73
Limited or No Guidelines for Using Methods and Tools 74
Tools That Are Used with No Structured Methods 76
Lack of Formal Reviews of Work and Too Much to
Review 78
Methods That Are Too Informal 79
Faulty Reporting on the Work 81
Lack of Planning for the Work 82
No Gathering of Experience from Performing the Work 83
New Tool to Be Introduced 85
Repetition of the Same Mistakes in the Work 86
People Who Work in a Single-Tasking Mode 87
Conclusions 88
Chapter 6
Business Units
Introduction 89
Users Who Resist Change 90
Users Who Want the Technology but Do Not Want to Change 92
Business Processes That Have Too Many Exceptions 94
Many Shadow Systems in the Business Units 95
Many Variations in Use of the Same Process 97
Diffi culty Getting Qualifi ed Users to Join the Effort 98
Users Who Do Not Want to Assume Responsibility 99
Users Who Do Not Resolve Issues Quickly or Adequately 101
Users Who Dictate Solutions 102
User Management That Is Attempting to Manipulate IT to Gain More
Power 104
Users Who Change Requirements Frequently 105
Users Who Are Unwilling to Sign Off 107
Conclusions 109
Chapter 7
Management
Introduction 111
Management’s Unrealistic Expectations of Benefi ts and Impacts 111
Lack of Clear Goals 113
Management’s Frequent Changes of Direction 114
Decisions Being Made Without the Advice or Involvement of
the IT Managers 116
Substantial Turnover of Management 117
Management’s Pulling of Resources from Some IT Work and Reassigning
Them 118
Management’s Attempts to Micromanage the Work 120
Management’s Lack of Interest in IT Matters 121
Management’s Failure to Resolve Issues 122
Lack of a Strategic IT Plan 124
Lack of Alignment of IT to the Business 126
Conclusions 127
Chapter 8
Projects
Introduction 129
Projects That Do Not Seem to Start Out Right 129
Too Many Surprises in the Project 131
Too Much Unplanned Work in the Project 133
Diffi culty Managing and Tracking Multiple Projects 134
Time-Consuming Project Administration 136
Project Leaders Who Lack Skills and Knowledge 137
Lack of Standard Project Reporting 139
Small Projects Not Being Treated as Projects 141
Larger Projects Being Divided Up in the Wrong Way 142
Too Many Projects 144
Not Knowing What Is Going On in the Project 145
Conclusions 146
Chapter 9
Resistance to Change
Introduction 147
Change That Does Not Fit Our Work 147
Having Tried Similar Things Before That Did Not Work 149
Lack of Incentive to Change 151
Change That Means More Work for the Same Compensation 152
Lack of Available Resources or Time to Support the Change 153
Technology or Change That Is Too Complicated 154
Possible Job Loss 155
Resisting Change Because What Has Been Done in the Past
Worked Well 157
Inability to Teach an Old Dog New Tricks 158
Change That Is Too Risky 159
No One Taking Responsibility When the Change Does Not Work 160
Conclusions 161
Part III
External Issues and Risks
Chapter 10
Vendors, Consultants, and Outsourcing
Introduction 165
Inadequate Vendor Performance 165
Vendor Staff Who Do Not Share Information 167
Vendors That Use Their Own Proprietary Methods and Tools 168
Vendors That Do Something Different from What They Agreed
to Do 169
Substantial Vendor Staff Turnover 170
Unstructured Vendor Communications 172
Vendor That Was Politically Selected by Management 173
Vendor That Does Not Resolve Issues 174
Vendor Team Leader Who Miscommunicates to Vendor Staff 175
Vendor That Overpromises 176
Vendor Staff Being Thinly Spread over Multiple Clients 177
Highly Unqualifi ed Vendor Staff 178
Conclusions 179
Chapter 11
Headquarters
Introduction 181
Headquarters Dictating a Solution 181
No Allowance for Resource Needs at the Local Level 183
Headquarters Attempting to Micromanage the Work in the
Business Unit 184
Lack of Understanding of the Cultural and Political Differences
Between Locations 185
Poor Communication Between the Business Unit and
Headquarters 186
Too Frequent Turnover and Change of Headquarters People 187
Headquarters Changing Direction Often During Implementation 189
Headquarters Being Infl exible in the General Implementation
of the Work 190
Headquarters Providing No Direction for the Work 191
Headquarters Not Providing the Necessary Funding 192
Issues and Questions Raised with Headquarters That Are Not
Being Addressed 193
Conclusions 194
Chapter 12
Technology
Introduction 195
Merging and Combining of Technology Vendors 195
Lack of Integration with the Technology 197
Lack of Time to Adequately Learn the New Technology 198
Unclear Benefi ts of the New Technology 200
Need for a Decision as to Whether to Adopt a New Technology 201
Incompatibility of the Technologies in Use and of Potential Use 204
Privacy Concerns 205
New Technology Being Only an Incremental Improvement 206
Wide Range of Potential Technology Solutions 208
Vendor That Is Forcing an Upgrade 210
Lack of Standards 211
Technology That Is Changing Too Slowly or Too Rapidly 212
Conclusions 213
Part IV
Issues and Risks in Specifi c IT Activities
Chapter 13
IT Strategic Planning
Introduction 217
Lack of Management Interest Once the Plan Is Approved 218
Diffi culty Linking IT Planning Factors to the Business 219
High Management Expectations of the Planning Effort 221
Lack of a Defi ned Business Vision or Mission 222
Diffi culty Showing the Benefi ts of Technology Projects
in the Plan 224
Limited or No Resources to Do the Planning 225
Failure of Past Planning Efforts 226
Deciding Whether the IT Plan Should Be Business Driven
or IT Driven 227
Business Being Unclear About What They Would Get
from the Plan 228
Challenge in Turning Action Items in the Plan into Actions 229
Conclusions 230
Chapter 14
Analysis
Introduction 233
Incomplete Requirements 233
Inadequate Time to Gather Requirements 235
Users Lacking Knowledge of Their Own Processes 236
Users Not Being Creative in Developing Solutions 237
Unclear Benefi ts of the Work 239
Lack of Real Overall Measurement of the Process 240
Overly Formal and Unscalable Analysis Methods 241
Original Stated Problem Not Being the Real Problem 243
Real Problems Being Political and Not Technical 244
Lack of a Real Downside If the Project Is Not Done 245
Conclusions 247
Chapter 15
Software Packages
Introduction 249
No Software Package That Fits the Requirements 250
Lack of Vendor Support in the Client Location 251
Software with No New Releases in Some Time 253
Deciding Whether or Not to Move to a New Release 254
Lack of Vendor Support for the Product 255
Software Package Vendor That Was Acquired by
Another Firm 257
Promised Features and Functions That Are Not There 258
Inadequate Product Documentation 259
Lack of Qualifi ed Training in Use of the Software Package 260
Limited Flexibility of the Software Package 261
Substantial Hidden Costs of the Software Package 263
Conclusions 264
Chapter 16
Development
Introduction 265
Overreliance on One Person 265
Departure of a Key Person 267
Development Performed ad hoc Without Adequate Design 268
Lack of Emphasis on Testing 269
Inadequate Tools 270
Developers Who Do Not Share Knowledge 273
Lack of In-Depth Review of Work 274
Users Who Regularly Contact Programmers Directly 276
Lack of Teamwork Among Developers 278
Developers Who Cannot Agree on the Details of the Technical
Approach 279
Few Guidelines for Doing the Work 280
Lack of Applying Past Knowledge and Experience 281
Developers Who Are Concentrating on the Easy Parts First 283
Conclusions 284
Chapter 17
Implementation
Introduction 285
Users Who Refuse to Accept Responsibility 285
Users Being Unavailable to Participate in the Implementation 287
Last-minute Requirement Changes 288
Lingering Issues 289
Resolved Issues That Become Unresolved 290
Incomplete or Unsuitable User Training 291
Users Who Resist Change During the Implementation 293
Users Who Continue to Work with the Old System 294
Problems with the Data Discovered During Data Conversion 295
User Management That Is Unwilling to Enforce Turnover
to the New Process 296
Inadequate User Testing 297
Conclusions 298
Chapter 18
Operations and Support
Introduction 299
Many IT Staff Members Preferring Operations Support to
Projects 299
Too Much Emergency Work 301
Some Staff Using Maintenance as a Chance to Redevelop
Software 303
Overly Cozy Relationship Between Some IT Managers and
Staff and Users 304
Overly Specialized Support Requirements 305
Lack of Measurement of Support and Maintenance 306
No Differentiation Between Maintenance and Enhancement 307
How Operations and Maintenance Should Be Managed 308
Conclusions 310
Appendix A: The Results of a Survey on IT Issues 311
Appendix B: The Magic Cross-Reference 319
Appendix C: Websites 321
Bibliography 323
Index 325

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