Chapter List

Introduction to Part 4

Part 1 of this book presents 40 root causes of troubled IT projects, based on published studies and personal experience. Part 2 provides guidance on how to avoid the majority of these root causes during the planning or bid stage of a project.

I will be delighted if the principles set out in Part 2 reduce the occurrence of troubled IT projects. However, I am not under the illusion that troubled IT projects will be in short supply. For this reason, Part 3 sets out an approach to reviewing projects in delivery and identifying troubled project root causes. This approach covers routine project health check reviews for currently untroubled projects. It also covers in-depth, trouble-shooting reviews for projects known to be in difficulty.

In Part 4, we are at the stage where we know that we have a project in trouble and we know what the root causes are. We have the report from a recent troubleshooting review. We are no longer looking for problems. The adrenalin is pumping and we are looking for solutions.

This chapter sets out an approach to defining a turnaround strategy and plan for such a project. To set expectations appropriately, I have never come across a turnaround strategy which resulted in the project being delivered to its original budget, timescale and functional scope. That would be a miracle for a project which has already veered...