Troubled IT Projects: Prevention and Turnarounds
An explanation of the 40 root causes of troubled IT projects, and how they can be avoided at each stage.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Troubled IT Projects: Prevention and Turnarounds
Chapter 8: Defining and Refining the Solution
Introduction
| Troubled project root causes to avoid when defining and refining the solution Be on the lookout for: RC13 Vendor failure to define project tasks, deliverables and acceptance processes RC26 Buyer retains design authority with right to approve/reject low-level designs |
RC13 is what this chapter is all about. Regardless of whether a project is contracted on a fixed price or a T&M basis, handling the task of project scoping and planning by means of workshops with the client after the contract has been signed is commercial hara-kiri. If you ve ever been the project manager running those workshops and experiencing the icy finger of dread as the realisation dawns that the Buyer s expectation of scope is vastly greater than yours, you will know how attractive the falling-on-one s-sword option is.
RC26 doesn t appear too often. When it does, it pays to build a strong relationship between Vendor and Buyer technical architects and to assume in the estimating and planning that 25 per cent additional design work will be needed for each design deliverable.
What can be avoided with a well-defined solution?
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Acute Vendor embarrassment when a budgetary estimate, which has been used by the potential Buyer to secure funding, turns out to be unrealistic. The result of this is usually extreme pressure on the Vendor to deliver at or near the original indicative price.
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Underestimation of effort and timescale, with serious financial consequences for the Vendor or Buyer depending on whether the contract is on a fixedprice or a T&M basis.
Copyright The Institution of Electrical Engineers 2001 under license agreement with Books24x7
