IT Project Mechanic

I would say that my job, as a project manager, constitutes a mix of the following: project chaperone, creative solution-maker and thorough problem surveyor. There are other bits, but I was left on an island with a mega-bank as my client and only three things would be left out of my bag of tricks, those would be what I picked.

Finding project problems is simple – not easy, but simple. There are some pre-conditions that are handy to apply before trying to find out what ails your project or team:

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The single most important component of project management is communication. Communication is also the one area discussed by PMI and the PMBOK the least and largely left to the imagination of Project Managers. The Standish Group produces a report titled “The Chaos Report” in which they review IT Projects and various aspects of managing projects in IT. For years, the ratio of successful projects against the whole has been at or below 1:3 – that is only one out of three projects are successful. Up to 81% (in one survey) of IT Projects are unsuccessful for one reason or another.

In the forums presented by the Project Management Institute, and featured in PM Network magazine, there are surveys that cover a wide range of topics. One of these was “Why Projects Fail”. Out of 193 respondents, 167 of these said that communication related issues were the primary cause of failure in their projects.

So, not to understate the point – this is a giant, vital and clear project success factor you have to become an expert in if you hope to deliver projects.

There are a few truths about project communication that go without saying:
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