Successful IT Project Delivery

Description

The repeated failure of IT projects to deliver an adequate return on investment remains a pressing concern in the industry. In a climate where corporate development budgets are being reviewed or even withdrawn, IT projects are no longer seen as a means to deliver automatic benefits into the organization.

In Successful IT Project Delivery, author and experienced IT consultant David Yardley examines the causes of this catalog of underachievement and provides the reader with an opportunity so often denied within their own workplace ?? to learn the lessons from project failure.

A core theme in the book is that IT project failure is not simply a technical issue which can be resolved with technology, but also a business issue, requiring ownership, commitment and understanding from those who seek business change through the use of IT. When the business and IT strategies within an organization do not complement and support each other, things can go wrong very quickly.

Key features:

* International case histories of failed IT projects, from the public and private sectors
* Extracts from end-of-project reviews
* Unique project "health-check" examination for each stage of the process
* Troubleshooting chart to identify early warning symptoms and suggest corrective action
* A list of 20 essential "lessons", drawn from previous project failures
* A summary of popular IT methodologies and their strengths and weaknesses

Successful IT Project Delivery recognizes that people, not technologies, are the key component of IT projects. Its lessons are addressed to all major project stakeholders: business sponsors, project managers and team members, IT professionals, consultants, and business users.

David Yardley is currently a Principal Consultant for CACI (UK) Ltd. He has over fifteen years of experience working in the IT industry, covering a variety of business sectors, including aero-engineering, telecommunications, computer manufacture, transport, and public sector projects. His previous publications include Careers in Computing and IT and Getting a Top Job in IT.

"Successful IT Project Delivery is practical and pragmatic: full of good advice and relevant examples. IT projects do not exist in isolation and this book adopts a business - based approach to success. Dave Yardley brings together in a structured way the key elements of common sense needed to make a project succeed from day one. Successful IT Project Delivery is also extremely readable and deserves to reach a wide audience."

Steve Marquez, Managing Director, Information & Management Solutions Division, CACI Ltd

"This book pulls together the various essential elements to ensure successful project delivery. The author is to be applauded for not just focusing on current hot topics but also for covering the less fashionable but equally crucial aspects of the job. If you are frustrated with your IS/IT projects, or about to begin a career in this area, you will benefit enormously from reading this book."

Derek Fazackerly, Chairman, DSDM Consortium

CONTENTS:

Introduction
PART I: ESTABLISHING THE IS PROJECT FRAMEWORK 1. Why do IS Projects fail?
The Reality Gap / The scope for IS project failure
2. Enabling Change - The Business of IT
Strategic business planning / Aligning the It strategy with the business / Building the business case / Managing change / Resistance to change / The Physiological Impact of Change / Change: Critical success factors 3. Managing the Requirements
What is requirements management? / The requirements management lifecycled / Barriers to effective requirements management / The dangers of using software packages
4. The IS methodology - a framework for development The role of IS methodologies / A comparism of popular IS methodologies

PART II: PLANNING FOR SUCCESS
5. Planning the Project
What is a project? / Hallmarks of a healthy project / The project plaln / Case study: The London Ambulance Service Computer- Aided Despatch System
6. Project building blocks: Processes
Project Management / Programme management / Risk management / Configuration management / Processes: #critical success factors
7. Planning the benefits
Why do IS projects fail to deliver benefits? / The nature of IS investments / Case study: A major airline company / Building the benefits - the benefit management cycle / Techniques for investment appraisal / Benefit mangement: Critical success factors

PART III: DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
8. Project building blocks: People
The human element of IS project failure / Key causes of project team weakness / The role of stakeholders in the project / Case study: An international airline Improving the human aspect of the project / Case study: A major telecommunications company / Supplier management / People: Critical success factors
9. Managing Software Development
The software development lifecycle / Case study - Denver International Airport Baggage Stystem / Measuring softwre development complexity / Achieving software development excellence / Managing softwre develoment: critical success factors
10. The need for quality
What is quality: / Project quality management / Software quality assurance / Total Quality Management / Case study: Intel / Barriers to quality / Quality - critical succes factors
PART IV: PROJECT DELIVERY
11. The importance of testing
Why do application systems fail? / The case for testing / Case study: The Lessons of Ariane 5 / Making the investment count: testing tools / The testing process / Making the transition from testing to product release /
12. Learning the lessons
Learning the lessons