IT Project Failures Set Fingers Pointing

IT project managers seem to suffer from a case of low expectations, in which their projects consistently fail to meet the goals set out for them.

This is for good reason, as one in three IT projects fail to perform to expectations, finds a survey released Dec. 11 by Tata Consultancy Services, an IT outsourcing firm. Responses were included from 800 IT managers in large companies across eight countries.

The most common issues project run into are failing to meet deadlines (62 percent), exceeding their budgets (49 percent) and higher than anticipated maintenance costs (47 percent).

Tata Consultancy argues that the answer is for businesses to rethink their IT services and consider an outsourcing strategy instead.

But IT managers tell a different story about why projects so often flop.

“Projects fail because of artificial dates, insufficient funding, insufficient support from senior management, unclear requirements, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” an IT manager at a New York-based financial services institution told eWEEK in March.

“Poor communication — between users and IT, between management and lower-level people, between project management and the vendor — is usually what it comes down to. Almost anyone who has worked on a project would give you similar answers.”