Why Do Information Technology Projects Succeed?

Information systems projects succeed most often when techniques learned in other industries, for example, defense and pharmaceutical manufacturing are applied to information systems projects. These techniques include:

Having written requirements and design documentation

Using software to write software, as opposed to using people

Use of mandatory project and document management standards

An emphasis on project management

Moreover, Information systems and technology (IT) projects succeed most often when organizational imperatives are given the same or greater import than technology imperatives.

For senior executives outside of IT this means:

Defining a project as a solution that, by definition, takes months, not years. Conversely, being wary of multi-year IT projects.

Having a senior corporate sponsor for all IT projects of significance

Doing an evaluation of shareholder (or stakeholder) economic value before proceeding with any IT project

Giving a senior IT executive control over the timing of results if you control the degree of functionality or vice versa if you don’t

Clearly defining the meaning of success

Collecting written requirements that reflect what should be delivered and to whom

Understanding what are the implications of giving external entities (partners, suppliers, customers, patients) access to your systems if the project is web-enabled

Accepting a “flow” of continuously improving solutions over time

Spending the time to develop executive–level oversight of all projects.

IT projects in the new millennium will be treated as necessary, but not sufficient for success of an enterprise. More often than not, the keys to success for 21^st century IT projects will be issues of shareholder value, customer acceptance, organizational change and, of course, the politics of who owns what data and why.

Substantial evidence exists to assert that the most serious needs driving IT focus on integration of data and the conversion of raw data to actionable real-time facts. These facts are needed to speed products and services to market. For example, new drug discovery costs can exceed $800M and take ten years. Any improvement in speed-to-market contributes directly to shareholder value. [1]

[1] Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (http://www.tufts.edu/med/csdd/images/NewsRelease113001pm.pdf)