Whats in a Name?

Apparently, everything, when it comes to the success of a technology project. So writes Nicholas Carr on his Rough Type blog (www.roughtype.com). Carr, known for his book, “IT Doesnt Matter,” recaps a big software project that went awry at Lloyds of London.

Here are Carrs lessons, which are worth remembering:

“First is that the bigger the software project, the more likely it is to collapse under its own weight. $100 million seems like the line beyond which failure is almost assured.

“Second is that you should always create software to solve the day-to-day problems faced by the actual users, not to meet big abstract organizational challenges. Solve enough little problems, and the big ones take care of themselves. Fail to make users lives easier, and theyll simply bypass the system (and never trust anything you do ever again).

“Third and finally, you should never give a software project a catchy codename. For Ford, it was Project Everest; for McDonalds, it was Project Innovate; for Lloyds, it was Project Kinnect. If youre about to launch an IT initiative big enough to warrant its own name, you should probably make sure you have a really good golden parachute.”

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