The Success Healthcheck for IT Projects E-Book

J. A. Flinn

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 395

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Downsizing, outsourcing and the accelerating pace of change have led to project management becoming one of today's hottest disciplines. Project management is about managing ad hoc, one-off projects instead of ongoing operations. Effective project management delivers better ROI, better benefits realization. Focusing on diagnostics, tangible outcomes and solutions, The Success Healthcheck for IT Projects identifies 8 leading indicators of success, ranging from how the project is set-up, to it's ability to deliver results within the business. The book covers how to assess the likely success of the project using the current IT project portfolio track record and provides diagnostics for a specific project. It shares over 35 real life stories from projects in a direct, pacey conversational style. On the $10,000 project, these methods provide focus. In very large IT based transformation projects, these methods have saved up to $30,000,000 and improved benefits between 20-80%. This is for project team, project manager, portfolio managers, CIOs and the business executives who want business benefits to be realized. This books helps project sponsors and project managers deliver Predictable Accountable Results (PAR) from projects.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Success

Founded on Robust Research

Prestory

Endnotes

Part 1 - Productivity

Chapter 1 - IT Projects Are Investments

The Back Story on Productivity

Project Failure Is the Untapped Source of Productivity Growth

Why This Failure Rate Continues to Exist

Improving Productivity Is a Process

Takeaways

Endnotes

Chapter 2 - Measure Success

Measuring the Cost of Project Failure

The Functional Yield Measures of IT Project Productivity

Improving Project Productivity

Takeaway

Endnotes

Chapter 3 - Take Action to Lift Success

Publicly Acknowledge That Success Is Not Guaranteed

Own Up to the NPP Ratio

Value the Reduced Risk of Failure (to Achieve Business Results)

Results Risk Management™

The Benefits of Setting Up for Success

Takeaway

Endnotes

Chapter 4 - Benchmark Productivity from IT Projects Evaluating the Cost of Failure

Elements: Collecting Your Own Data

The Functional Yield in Reality—A Window into 3 IT Portfolios

Takeway

Endnotes

Chapter 5 - Diagnosing Productivity Health

The Results Diagnostics

Project Health Factors

Project Health Check

Project Health Diagnosis

Project Health Diagnosis Summary

Framing the Diagnostic for Decision and Action

Lift Project Performance by Addressing the Failure Rate

Takeaway from Productivity

Part 2 - Probability

Chapter 6 - Talent Scouting—Spotting Success Early

100 Percent of Projects Intend to Succeed

Past Performance Predicts Future Performance

Predicting Success

The Foundations of the 8-Fold Path to Project Success

Chapter 7 - The 8-Fold Path to Project Success

What Does This Look Like?

An Archetypal Project

What Are Your Real Results?

Trust and Verify

Endnote

Chapter 8 - Business Results Are a Process

Results Delivery Process

Maturity

Maturity and Results Deliver Processes

Endnote

Part 3 - Project

Chapter 9 - Fold 1, Intent Is Clear

Results Are . . .

Results Are Clearly Specified

Generating Results

Takeaway

Endnotes

Chapter 10 - Fold 2, Business Case Is Robust

Results of Investment: What’s the Bottom Line?

What Is the Real Investment?

Quality of Business Case

Bottom-Line Value

Now, a Secret . . .

Working Around This Secret

Project Results Sensitivity

Takeaway

Endnotes

Chapter 11 - Fold 3, Results Delivery Process Is Reliable

How Reliable Is the Results Delivery Process?

KISS: 6 Keep It Simple Symptoms

Takeaway

Endnotes

Chapter 12 - Fold 4, Motivation Is Energized

Risk: Accept or Reject—People Are Part of the Business Results Equation

. . . the Likely Response

Resistance—Psychology Not Taught at School

Takeaway

Endnotes

Chapter 13 - Part 3 Takeaway

Your Assessment

Part 4 - Presence

Chapter 14 - Background to Part 4

Process: Success in the Business Context

Business Results from IT Projects Require Continued Presence

Present to Future Implementation Issues

Collateral Damage Costs

An Archetypical Business System

Diagnosing the Business Context for Success

Endnotes

Chapter 15 - Fold 5, Project Aligns to Current Strategic Position

Risks to Business Results from the Strategic Context

Takeaway

Endnotes

Chapter 16 - Fold 6, Operational Context Supports Project Intent

Operational Context Reinforce

Takeaway

Endnotes

Chapter 17 - Fold 7, Flow Favors Project Intent

Previous Experiences with Change in the Business

Quality of Local Management

Reputation of the Project

Takeway

Endnotes

Chapter 18 - Fold 8, Balancing Dynamics to Aid Project Intent

Pace

Tipping Points

Regrowth Rates and Burnout

Bulldozers, Slash and Burn, and Other Ways to Destroy

Moving with Time

Takeaway

Chapter 19 - Lifting Performance from Failure to Success

Diagnostic: What Are the Risks to Business Results?

Identifying the Risks to Address

CIO Moment: Credibility Check

Take Action to Improve Business Results from IT Projects

Part 5 - Performance

Chapter 20 - Where to? Success Is a Journey, Not a Destination

Leadership Implications

Assess Risks, Take Action

Performance Reflects Proficiency

Experience Is More than Headlines

Where Are You Now?

Where Do You Want to Be?

Perseverance

The Leadership Challenge

Begin with the End in Mind

Success and Courage

Endnotes

Appendix A - Calculating the Functional Yield

Appendix B - CIO Moment—Results Track Record

Appendix C - The Basic Health Check: Warning Signs

Appendix D - The Cost of Lightweight Business Cases

Appendix E - Requirements Are Not Always Words

Bibliography

Index

Advance Praise for The Success Healthcheck for IT Projects

An Insider’s Guide to Managing IT Investment and Business Change

J. A. Flinn speaks with a wisdom gained from many years of wishing for the best but preparing for the worst on complex IT and business change initiatives. Results risk management is critical. Anything that can be done to improve the probability of success of your IT projects is worthwhile doing, so start with reading this book!

Mark Bryant Partner, Infosys

Flinn created a mix of very practical, realistic and performance-driven solutions by combining her IT experience with the wisdom of timeless principles. Her lively, probing, authentic style is consistent with her view of seeing these complex systems as ecological living organisms where people and systems integrate in a natural way.

Professor Peter Robertson Author of Always Change a Winning Team Founder, Human Insight

Flinn distills a complex topic into a clear usable approach for leaders to achieve real success by significantly improving project portfolio returns, and shows leaders how to avoid the staggering project failure rates which is common today. Flinn’s latest publication is a real winner.

Susan Breniman Associate Director, Proctor and Gamble

Once again we sat round a table scratching our heads wondering why all the things we had spent so much time planning completely failed to materialize! J. A. Flinn explains with great clarity why project implementation and benefits realization is an art and needs the right combination of people, processes and planning to succeed.

Arvind Mathur Partner, Hiedricks and Struggles

I have met J. A. Flinn in exotic locations and have been impressed by her skills, knowledge, love for life, love for travel and the book that she has produced. I have been a business coach for most of my business life and it this capacity I have worked with many, many business. The Success Healthcheck for IT Projects gives amazing business tools. Well done! I make it an important step in the education of my clients to read and master J. A. Flinn’s book!

Martin Jimmink Master Coach, Action International Business Coaches

100 percent of IT projects intend to succeed, but 93 percent fail.Just 7 percent are star performers. Which is yours?

Copyright © 2010 J.A. Flinn

Published in 2010 by John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte. Ltd. 2 Clementi Loop, #02-01, Singapore 129809

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as expressly permitted by law, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate photocopy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center. Requests for permission should be addressed to the Publisher, John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte. Ltd., 2 Clementi Loop, #02-01, Singapore 129809, tel: [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [email protected].

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

Neither the authors nor the publisher are liable for any actions prompted or caused by the information presented in this book. Any views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the organizations they work for.

Proprietary terms include: Predictable Accountable Results (PAR), Results Risk Management (RRM), Keep, Kill or Reconsider, 7 Keys to Portfolio Success and 8-Fold Path to Project Success. Requests for permission to use these or to license the methodologies should be addressed to [email protected].

Other Wiley Editorial Offices John Wiley & Sons, 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA John Wiley & Sons, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, P019 8SQ, United Kingdom John Wiley & Sons (Canada) Ltd., 5353 Dundas Street West, Suite 400, Toronto, Ontario, M9B 6HB, Canada John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd., 42 McDougall Street, Milton, Queensland 4064, Australia Wiley-VCH, Boschstrasse 12, D-69469 Weinheim, Germany

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN 978-0-470-82572-3

Typeset in 9.5/12pt Palatino Linotype by Thomson Digital, India Ltd.

Foreword

In 1982, I was the director of the MSc in Engineering Construction Project Management at the Cranfield School of Management. I went to a seminar in London on project management in IT that was attended by more than 100 IT project managers and specialists. At the end of the day, the chairman summarized the findings of the day. The first was that so many IT projects would have been more successful . . . if there were no clients! Wow! With no clients no one in the seminar would have been employed.

Recently there has been a recognition that projects are a means to an end and not an end in themselves. In the early days of project management in the construction industry many thought that the project was the only goal and often asked clients to step back while the specialists delivered the project—not that anyone in IT would ever think of doing that! This, of course, missed the point of projects and project management entirely. As J. A. Flinn so correctly points out in this new book, it takes two to make a project a success:

• A project manager to deliver a successful output from the project.

• A project sponsor to utilize the output to achieve the desired outcome for the organization.

The desired outcome should have been used to justify the project investment in the first place.

The organization owning the project could be in any of the three work sectors:

1. Business seeking a project outcome to increase competitiveness performance;

2. Public sector seeking a project outcome that delivers effective policies;

3. Not-for-profit sector seeking to deliver outcomes that maximize help to the maximum number of beneficiaries.

Too many projects continue to an unsuccessful outcome, often because the participants are blind to the intended outcome, or fail to gauge the likely outcome during the delivery process. Flinn suggests a number of refreshing ways in which owners and sponsors can diagnose the heath of a project at a stage where decisions can still be made to bring it back on track or stop it before wasting further sunk costs.

This book will be of great benefit to those who sponsor, own, or deliver IT projects. It contains many practical suggestions and numerous helpful case studies, which focus on the success of the final outcome to the investing organization. Many IT projects are really business projects with the IT being, like the project management, merely a means to an end. This book helpfully makes this clear throughout.

I commend the book and its contents to you.

As one Austrian friend would say—“Happy Projects!”

Alan Harpham

Chairman of the Association for Project Managers, UK

Alan Harpham BSc MBA (1975) CMC FAPM FIBC

Alan is the Chairman of the APM Group (www.apmgroup.co.uk ). He is a former director of P5—the Power of Projects, managing director of Nichols Associates (now The Nichols Group), and Director of the MSc in Project Management at Cranfield University. His early career was spent in construction with John Laing. He also focuses on pro-bono work with charities involved with spirituality at work and the Church.

Acknowledgments

No man is an island entire of himself.

—John Donne

All creative efforts come as a result of ideas, people, support, and inspiration. So do mine.

Many thanks to all who have helped me on my way.

May this help you on your way to success.

—J. A.

Many people have contributed to the book in a myriad of ways.

The IITA and IRRI scientists who lead the Green Revolution were my earliest demonstration that amazing results come from the application of science, economics, and dynamic systems to productivity and business results.

My colleagues in the companies I’ve worked for and with, as well as my clients who provided the real world in which projects deliver results with the business.

Many individuals have made this possible. Particular thanks for their support, ideas, suggestions, reviews, and encouragement including Sue Breniman, Mark Bryant, Darryl Dickens, Peter Robinson, Karen Kang, Philip Idenburg, Hema Prakesh, Alan Heug, Laurie Young, and Tim Harford.

My colleagues at the Change Leaders (tCL): Nick Herpers, John Freeman, Nadine Theimann, and Patricia Shafer—the reflective practitioner is alive and well. Thanks also to Saïd Business School, Oxford University and HEC for the support they have given tCL and for running the Master of Science degree and research programs that started this book.

The team at John Wiley & Sons (Asia): C. J. Hwu, Nick Melchior, Joel Balbin, Cynthia Mak, Cindy Chu, and Camy Boey.

My family and friends, who’ve given me all that I’ve needed to make this possible.

Introduction

In The Beginning There Was . . . . . . a project that succeeded

Project reality differs for most business executives. Expectations are unmet. Other projects are begun, and they too disappoint. Transformations grind to a halt. Strategies are diverted.

Information technology (IT) is a profession that measures project success and even has the guts to publish it. They report:

• Productivity growth from IT has dropped in the 2000s.1

• 93 percent of IT projects fall short2 of expectations: 60 percent just a little, and up to 33 percent by a lot.

• 50 percent spend double their budget, and 20 percent are written off.3

To put this in hard numbers, over 20 years ago, the estimated cost of IT failure in the United States alone was $55 billion per annum. These days, global IT spending is greater; the cost of failure is $333 billion.4

This is a major capital cost, which is unpalatable in good financial times, and unacceptable in tight times.

Do some of your projects disappoint or fail?

How can you lift your success rates?

Would you like to turn a “little off” to “right on!?”

How would it benefit your business if you can identify those projects that are likely to fail early?

Would you like to be ahead of the curve when your project delivers what you want?

Are you curious why projects so rarely succeed, even with all the hard work?

Would you like to be more successful?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, then this book is for you.

Take action now: Diagnose the health ofa currentprojectnowat www.successhealthcheck.com. Use the code “shelton-methods” to receive a valuable bonus offer as a purchaser of this book.