Understanding the Sources of Information Systems Project Failure

Management Services, Autumn 2007 by McManus, John, Wood-Harper, Trevor

On completion of the project both the client and project managers regarded the project as a success. There were, however, a number of design and implementation problems that, with hindsight, could have been avoided. The client and senior management felt that the project was a success, although it was 20 weeks late and was 56% over budget. This was a good result based on client's previous track record in information systems delivery.

In projects over six million euros, the understatement of effort, stakeholder and project management costs appeared to be a common feature and small budget overruns (less than 10%) did not generally reflect the cost or risk of the project. The fact that it took an additional 20 weeks and extra support and user personnel to iron out post-implementation problems 'was initially hidden' without too many problems, the important thing for the project manager and the senior management team was that the project could be held up as a success.

Question 3

What are the major causal factors contributing to project failure?

Judgements by project stakeholders about the relative success or failure of projects tend to be made early in the projects life cycle. On examination of the project stage reports it became apparent that many project managers plan for failure rather than success. As one project manager commented ..."it seems to me one of the enduring problems in the organisation on these issues (project delivery) has been that, although there are a large number of very talented people in the organisation, I do not think it has had a sufficient depth of expertise on the very complicated range of technical issues, operational issues and market issues which are required to see the project through to a satisfactory and timely conclusion' 10.

When analysing success and failure, it is second nature to ascribe 'cause and effect to events' 1. For example, the system went live more or less on time because the project was well-managed (with a highly respected project manager) or was late because system testing was not thorough enough. The idea of causality or the relationship between 'cause and event' is central to many conceptions of theory 11. When theory is taken to involve explanation and understanding, it is intimately linked to ideas of causation. Often, to ask for an explanation of an 'event' is to ask for its cause. Similarly, the ability to make predictions from theory can depend on knowledge of causal connections. For example, the knowledge that stakeholders (that is users) involvement contributes to the development of 'successful' information systems warrants the inference that if stakeholders are not involved in the development of a particular system then the system is less likely to be successful. This is emphasised in the following case.

During the implementation phase of one project studied the sponsoring organisation was undergoing a major reorganisation and was attempting to downsize some of its operations. The next 18 months were typified by intense political power struggles as the senior management team attempted to position themselves within the organisation. From the project manager's perspective it seemed that the personal ambitions of the managers played a significant part in how the organisation would be structured and this influenced significant strategic decisions. Outcomes were legitimised in language that drew upon the business urgency, market pressures and customer service etc. It is, however, difficult to ignore the personal and organisational politics (risk) that bubble away continuously in the background, and if the management require a software project to fail, then, by and large, they could bring this outcome about. Similarly, if they wanted it to succeed then to a large extent they could also bring about this outcome.