A few years ago I was interviewing candidates for a project management position on my team. There were quite a few local candidates with fairly similar experience and nothing really stood out between them. One CV was particularly intriguing. It seemed the candidate had been the overall project manager for a US Navy guided missile frigate. You have to admit that being at the helm of a $2 billion dollar project sounds pretty impressive? But is it really? Is it complex? Or simply complicated? It certainly is a lot of money.
While we have a tactile sense of the enormity of say a ship and a general feel for the wide variety of parts that need to come together so that this mass of steel, plastic, glass, etc. eventually floats, we don’t have the same sense for IT projects. My conversations with senior leaders in government have uncovered uneasiness for the large IT project. This unease is often as a result of experience with less than expected outcomes from previous projects. The Sept 2011 edition of Harvard Business Review suggests that IT projects are more prone to experience “black swan” style outcomes of cost overruns and managers don’t often properly plan for these eventualities.
I guess the first question IT managers need to ask themselves is: “Is my IT project LARGE?” Largeness is relative and needs to consider a number of factors. Some of these factors are:
Is the project complex or simply complicated?
How many stakeholders are involved?
Is this simply a technology effort or is it a policy or culture changing experience?
Have you done this before and at the same scale?
While I certainly didn’t invent the idea, I’ve long been an advocate of converting large projects into a program with many small discrete projects. It’s like taking a million dollar effort and dividing it into 1000 $1000 projects. Not only does the poor performance of any one small element have a much smaller impact, it also helps build agility into the overall program delivery. Of course there may be one or two absolutely critical pieces that can make or break a project, these can be explored early in the process so as to help inform further decision making.
Another key element is evidence based decision making. It’s often been said that if “you’re not measuring it, it’s not getting done.” Measurement is fundamental to understanding how you’re doing; If you’re on track or if things are going off the rails. And it’s also important to measure the right outcomes as well. On time and on budget are important, but not if you’re not driving business outcomes. Sometimes the best decision in reviewing the metrics is when to stop. I really like the advice of Daniel Rasmus where he proposed that stop doing lists are as important as to do lists. By collecting solid metrics about how each stage is doing, organization can quickly pivot and pursue different approaches.
There are no doubt hundreds of other pieces of advice for how to deliver successful Large IT Projects, so an exhaustive list here is probably not possible, but one last important element is communication. All organizations can benefit from a comprehensive communications program around the activities that they are looking to accomplish. Governments can benefit by proactively reporting the many small successes as a program progresses so, that when small setbacks occur, there is an established body of evidence around the due diligence and sound decision making that led to that point. Private sector organizations can benefit to keep their customers and shareholders confident in their offerings or business. I’ve been disappointed lately with how good version one products with a ton of innovation have been torpedoed through poor communications around their launch. Simple messages around the company’s long term commitment to the direction or that customers should feel confident that their provider will take care of them as they embark on the newer direction would go a long way to solidifying success and addressing a hostile media.
Organizations are successfully delivering IT projects to deliver innovation, increase productivity and ultimately become more prosperous. Fundamental to their success is not biting off more than they can chew to make sure that their project is just the right size to challenge the status quo while not overwhelming the operation. As you explore your next IT project, you need to ask yourself, “Is my IT project too large?”
