The Reasons of Project Failure
Answer 1:
It projects deviate on many different dimensions. One of the characteristics of and IT project is that it will never finish on schedule at the same time, the longer it takes the more cost incurred. These are the main causes of project failure mentioned in the case study given. There are many other reasons why projects go out of track and fail. A few important reasons are discussed below.
Lack of User Involvement
End users are the most important of all throughout the project. They are the most powerful influencing factor and that power might work for or against of a particular project. End users are the party who will be using the system when the project is finished. The main project deliverables like the system, and manual will be used by the end users.
If these users are not involved in any stage of the project development there is a very positive influence on the project deliverables that it may not meet the user expectations which will result in a failure of the project. Users must be kept close to give meaningful inputs to every phase of requirements gathering. It is not there concern how the system works internally. During all the phases they will be asking questions like How do I use this thing? Does it provide the right tool to complete my tasks?
On the other hand, problems may arise if the users are kept too close to the requirements. If they are given power they may deviate the project into more dangerous situations. Most of the time they do not consider these consequences of they want in the finished project. Users will be comparing how things were done in the past and they would always be done in future. Even consultation is given to the users regarding certain isssues, they might confuse the technical expertise of a consultant with their understanding more than they do about the user 's job. A failure is not always the end user 's fault. But, because of lack of user involvement in the project, it will fail.
If a meaningful
It projects deviate on many different dimensions. One of the characteristics of and IT project is that it will never finish on schedule at the same time, the longer it takes the more cost incurred. These are the main causes of project failure mentioned in the case study given. There are many other reasons why projects go out of track and fail. A few important reasons are discussed below.
Lack of User Involvement
End users are the most important of all throughout the project. They are the most powerful influencing factor and that power might work for or against of a particular project. End users are the party who will be using the system when the project is finished. The main project deliverables like the system, and manual will be used by the end users.
If these users are not involved in any stage of the project development there is a very positive influence on the project deliverables that it may not meet the user expectations which will result in a failure of the project. Users must be kept close to give meaningful inputs to every phase of requirements gathering. It is not there concern how the system works internally. During all the phases they will be asking questions like How do I use this thing? Does it provide the right tool to complete my tasks?
On the other hand, problems may arise if the users are kept too close to the requirements. If they are given power they may deviate the project into more dangerous situations. Most of the time they do not consider these consequences of they want in the finished project. Users will be comparing how things were done in the past and they would always be done in future. Even consultation is given to the users regarding certain isssues, they might confuse the technical expertise of a consultant with their understanding more than they do about the user 's job. A failure is not always the end user 's fault. But, because of lack of user involvement in the project, it will fail.
If a meaningful
References: Why do IT Projects Fail [Online], 10th Feb 2007 URL: < http://allpointsprojects.com/Why_Do_IT_Projects_Fail.html> Why projects fail? [Online], 10th Feb 2007 URL: < http://www.coleyconsulting.co.uk/failure.htm> Your mission, should you choose to accept it [Online], 10th Feb 2007 URL: < http://spatialnews.geocomm.com/features/mesa1/> Simon Wallace 2005, The ePM Book, [Online], 11th Feb 2007 URL: < http://www.epmbook.com/> Information technology project approval process [Online], 11th Feb 2007 URL: