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Risk Management for IT Projects
Bennet Lientz,Lee Larssen
- 352 Seiten
- English
- ePUB (handyfreundlich)
- Über iOS und Android verfügbar
Risk Management for IT Projects
Bennet Lientz,Lee Larssen
Über dieses Buch
The rate of failure of IT projects has remained little changed in survey after survey over the past 15-20 years—over 40-50%. This has happened in spite of new technology, innovative methods and tools, and different management methods. Why does this happen? Why can't the situation be better? One reason is that many think of each IT effort as unique. In reality many IT projects are very similar at a high, strategic level. Where they differ is in the people and exact events—the detail. If you read the literature or have been in information systems or IT for some time, you have seen the same reasons for failure and the same problems and issues recur again and again. In this book IT Management experts Ben Lientz and Lee Larssen show you how to identify and track the recurring issues leading to failure in IT projects and provide a proven, modern method for addressing them. By following the recommendations in this books readers can significantly reduce the risk of IT failures and increase the rate of success. Benefits of using this approach: • Issues are identified earlier—giving more time for solution and action.
• Issues are resolved more consistently since the approach tracks on their repetition.
• You get an early warning of problems in IT work—before the budget or schedule fall apart.
• Management tends to have more realistic expectations with an awareness of issues.
• Users and managers have greater confidence in IT due to the improved handling of issues.
• Since the number of issues tends to stabilize in an organization, the IT organization and management get better at detecting, preventing, and dealing with issues over time—cumulative improvement.
• Giving attention to issues make users more realistic in their requests and acts to deter requirement changes and scope creep.
Häufig gestellte Fragen
Information
Issues and Risk Management
Introduction
Common It-Related Problems
- 110 issues: major logistics firm in Asia
- 145 issues: luxury goods manufacturer
- 209 issues: government agency
- Scope creep
- Changing requirements
- High management expectations of IT
- Lack of user participation
- Having a common list and approach for many issues means there will be fewer surprise issues.
- There is cumulative improvement, in that a standard issues database is a repository that can be related to any IT effort or project. New issues can be added to the database. If you apply the experience in this database, you can solve issues faster and easier. Moreover, the issues are less likely to recur.
- Having a standardized risk and issues management approach can aid all IT activities — regular work, planning, small projects, support, and large projects.
- Tracking IT work through issues management can provide a much earlier warning system than standard measures of budget versus actual and scheduled versus actual plan.
- Issues awareness can make users, customers, managers, and IT staff more realistic as to what is possible given the purpose and scope of an IT effort.
- Issue detection and resolution improve and are more consistent over time.
Why It Efforts Fail
- Issues are detected too late. Management and staff may not be aware of issues or be looking at the glass as “half full.” Here is a lesson learned. Always look at the work as “half empty” — you will achieve more success.
- Issues are not managed well. Typically, issues are managed in an unsystematic, ad hoc manner. Moreover, different managers and leaders may deal with the same issues in different ways. Inconsistency leads to more problems.
- Issues are not tracked using the same measurements of both IT in general and IT project management in particular. This leads to more surprises.
- Experience in resolving issues, doing work, and completing work is not used to improve the management of issues in the future.
- People tend to make the same mistakes again and again with the same issues. This makes measurement, management, and estimation difficult at best and impossible at worse.
- When gathering requirements, it is assumed that users are supportive of the effort and change. This is often not the case. You need to get users to see the need for change.
- Traditionally, you seek to involve a few senior users (called here king and queen bees). These people are often the ones who are most resistant to change.
- After the requirements are gathered, users are asked to sign off and approve them. These approvals, as users have learned, are not legally enforceable. We have seen many cases in which users later state that they did not understand or that things have changed. Only with involvement can come commitment to the requirements.
- Users are left alone, sometimes for months. They have seen no results. The requirements gathering could have generated new ideas, resulting in change of scope.
- There is often a disconnect between the training and the implementation of the new system and the current business process. How to get from A to B is not made clear.
- If the shadow systems are not included in requirements, the users may have to carry them over and even make changes to them to adapt to the new process. What incentive do the users have to do this on their own? Not much.
- If the king and queen bees are able to implement all of the exceptions, then there will be less or no benefit from the new system and process.
It Differs From Other Types of Business Work
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- Cover Page
- Half-Title Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Table of Contents
- Preface
- Part I Issues and Risk Management
- Part II Internal Issues and Risk
- Part III External Issues and Risks
- Part IV Issues and Risks in Specific IT Activities
- Appendix A: The Results of a Survey on IT Issues
- Appendix B: The Magic Cross-Reference
- Appendix C: Websites
- Bibliography
- Index