CATASTROPHE, ACCOMPLISHMENT AND DEVELOPMENTS IN PROJECTS

The information technology industry has experienced a tremendous growth over the last 30 years but still beleaguered by failed projects. Failure cases are typically dominated by large and complex projects. Moreover, the percentage of projects being developed above their limits of time, budgeted cost and quality is still high. However, in defining project success, are these the only parameters that make the difference? According to the PMI Project Management Body of Knowledge, Project Management is about delivering a product or service on time, within the allocated budget and according to customer defined quality and specification, by a motivated project team. Indeed, success as well as failure, appears to be linked to a wide range of factors. This paper attempts to make sense of success and failure as it explores project failures and success criteria, re-examines Critical Success Factors (CSFs) according to their original definition, applies Porter's Five Forces Model, and advocates collating Best Practices by using an Evidence-Based approach. The paper builds a partial solution that encompasses paying attention to industry- specific practices, to organizational procedures and to project- specific issues. It also makes the case for regular ‘factor health checks' of projects that take into account these factors and improve the likelihood of delivering value in a given project.