The mastery of risk distinguishes modern times from the past: By understanding and measuring risks and their consequences, the future was no longer perceived to be a whim of the gods and humans were thereby empowered to transform their world. Despite the fact that IT deals with “modern” technologies, IT project management has a rather poor track record in the mastery of risks. Standish Group reminds us year after year that about 20% of IT projects are cancelled before completion and less than a third are finished on-time and within-budget with expected functionality. If the discussion is limited to larger and therefore riskier projects of 10,000 function points or more, Capers Jones pointes out that the cancellation rate more than doubles. The bankruptcy of $5 billion FoxMeyer Drugs, Hershey’s inability to ship candy before Halloween, the Denver Airport, and perennial failures at FAA are only a few of the glaring examples of the significant impact of failed and troubled IT projects. However, the postmortem examination of IT projects reveals that long before the failure there were significant symptoms or “early warning signs” of trouble. An early warning sign (EWS) is defined as an event or indication that predicts, cautions, or alerts one of possible or impending problems. EWSs provide an indication of manifesting risks and therefore likely future difficulties and failure. Enterprise and project managers need to ask themselves as early as possible whether any ‘red flags’ warrant significant project redirection or termination. This webinar (1) Reports on the results of a study of seasoned IT project managers, academics, and experts that asked them to rank 53 EWS risks identified from IT project management articles in the academic literature, practitioner journals, and by a panel of experienced IT project management experts, in order to identify the most important EWS; (2) Describes four main sources of IT project risk (the Four Horseman of Doom); and (3) Provides practical advice about how to spot EWSs and what to do about them.
Learning Objectives
- Realize that IT project problems are easier and cheaper to fix the earlier you find them.
- Recognize early on the Four Horseman of IT project failure.
- Understand what to do when you see Early Warning Signs of IT project problems.
- Find out how to minimize personal career risk from troubled IT projects.
Intended Audience
- Project Stakeholders – project sponsors, IT steering committee members
- IT Leadership – CIOs, project management office personnel, software process & methods personnel
- Project Teams – project managers, team members, subject matter experts
- Organization Leadership – CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CLOs, Internal Audit Directors
Please note that all webinar times are displayed in US Eastern Time.
This webinar is produced by CAI's IT Metrics and Productivity Institute. All Institute webinars are free of charge and are accredited with PDU codes by the PMI. For the Institute's full webinar schedule for 2009, please visit http://www.itmpi.org/webinars. For Institute events, please visit http://www.itmpi.org/events.
Email policy: Registrants will receive email updates from the IT Metrics and Productivity Institute containing information about future educational opportunities. Email addresses may also be shared with the webinar presenter.
* Field is required.