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| Preface | |
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| Issues and Risk Management | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Common IT-Related Problems | |
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| Why IT Efforts Fail | |
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| IT Differs from Other Types of Business Work | |
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| How IT and the Business Have Changed | |
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| IT and Politics | |
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| The Management View of IT | |
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| Issues and Risk | |
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| Types of Issues | |
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| The Life Cycle of an Issue | |
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| Some Common Problems in Issues Management | |
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| Issues Across Projects | |
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| Problems Versus Opportunities | |
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| The Goals of IT | |
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| Process Improvement and Reengineering | |
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| General Approach to Issues and Risk Management | |
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| Organization of the Book | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Effective Issues Management and Coordination | |
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| Introduction | |
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| General Management of Issues | |
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| The Issues Databases | |
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| Getting Started | |
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| Defining Issues at the Start of Projects and Work | |
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| Tracking of Issues and Risk | |
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| User and Vendor Issue Coordination | |
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| Issue and Risk Communications and Reporting | |
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| Handling Issues Within the IT Organization | |
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| Decision Making and Follow-up | |
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| Dealing with Multiple Issues | |
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| Coping with Recurring Issues | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Analysis and Measurements of Issues and Risk | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Problems with Standard Measurements | |
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| Management Critical Path | |
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| Multiple Project Analysis | |
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| Tracking Status Using Issues and Risk | |
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| Total Issues | |
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| Open Issues | |
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| Uncontrolled Versus Controlled Open Issues | |
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| Aging of Open Issues | |
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| Average Time to Resolve Issues | |
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| Distribution of Open Issues by Type | |
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| Issues by Type over Time | |
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| Selection of Issues for Decisions and Actions | |
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| Perspective on Different Issues | |
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| Project Evaluation | |
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| Project Termination | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Internal Issues and Risk | |
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| Teams | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Lack of Teamwork | |
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| Team Members or Departments That Do Not Get Along with One Another | |
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| Team Members That Are Difficult to Manage | |
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| Wide Range of Experience and Knowledge Among Team Members | |
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| Project or Work Leader Who Is Junior and Lacks Experience | |
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| Substantial Turnover Among Team Members | |
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| Lack of Motivation | |
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| Not Much Communication Among Team Members and Outside of the Team | |
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| New Team Member Has to Be Socialized into the Group | |
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| Team Member Performance That Does Not Seem to Improve over Time | |
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| Too Much Time Spent in Meetings | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| The Work | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Limited or No Guidelines for Using Methods and Tools | |
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| Tools That Are Used with No Structured Methods | |
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| Lack of Formal Reviews of Work and Too Much to Review | |
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| Methods That Are Too Informal | |
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| Faulty Reporting on the Work | |
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| Lack of Planning for the Work | |
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| No Gathering of Experience from Performing the Work | |
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| New Tool to Be Introduced | |
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| Repetition of the Same Mistakes in the Work | |
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| People Who Work in a Single-Tasking Mode | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Business Units | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Users Who Resist Change | |
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| Users Who Want the Technology but Do Not Want to Change | |
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| Business Processes That Have Too Many Exceptions | |
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| Many Shadow Systems in the Business Units | |
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| Many Variations in Use of the Same Process | |
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| Difficulty Getting Qualified Users to Join the Effort | |
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| Users Who Do Not Want to Assume Responsibility | |
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| Users Who Do Not Resolve Issues Quickly or Adequately | |
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| Users Who Dictate Solutions | |
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| User Management That Is Attempting to Manipulate IT to Gain More Power | |
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| Users Who Change Requirements Frequently | |
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| Users Who Are Unwilling to Sign Off | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Management | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Management's Unrealistic Expectations of Benefits and Impacts | |
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| Lack of Clear Goals | |
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| Management's Frequent Changes of Direction | |
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| Decisions Being Made Without the Advice or Involvement of the IT Managers | |
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| Substantial Turnover of Management | |
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| Management's Pulling of Resources from Some IT Work and Reassigning Them | |
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| Management's Attempts to Micromanage the Work | |
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| Management's Lack of Interest in IT Matters | |
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| Management's Failure to Resolve Issues | |
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| Lack of a Strategic IT Plan | |
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| Lack of Alignment of IT to the Business | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Projects | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Projects That Do Not Seem to Start Out Right | |
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| Too Many Surprises in the Project | |
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| Too Much Unplanned Work in the Project | |
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| Difficulty Managing and Tracking Multiple Projects | |
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| Time-Consuming Project Administration | |
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| Project Leaders Who Lack Skills and Knowledge | |
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| Lack of Standard Project Reporting | |
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| Small Projects Not Being Treated as Projects | |
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| Larger Projects Being Divided Up in the Wrong Way | |
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| Too Many Projects | |
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| Not Knowing What Is Going On in the Project | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Resistance to Change | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Change That Does Not Fit Our Work | |
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| Having Tried Similar Things Before That Did Not Work | |
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| Lack of Incentive to Change | |
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| Change That Means More Work for the Same Compensation | |
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| Lack of Available Resources or Time to Support the Change | |
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| Technology or Change That Is Too Complicated | |
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| Possible Job Loss | |
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| Resisting Change Because What Has Been Done in the Past Worked Well | |
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| Inability to Teach an Old Dog New Tricks | |
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| Change That Is Too Risky | |
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| No One Taking Responsibility When the Change Does Not Work | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| External Issues and Risks | |
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| Vendors, Consultants, and Outsourcing | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Inadequate Vendor Performance | |
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| Vendor Staff Who Do Not Share Information | |
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| Vendors That Use Their Own Proprietary Methods and Tools | |
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| Vendors That Do Something Different from What They Agreed to Do | |
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| Substantial Vendor Staff Turnover | |
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| Unstructured Vendor Communications | |
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| Vendor That Was Politically Selected by Management | |
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| Vendor That Does Not Resolve Issues | |
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| Vendor Team Leader Who Miscommunicates to Vendor Staff | |
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| Vendor That Overpromises | |
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| Vendor Staff Being Thinly Spread over Multiple Clients | |
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| Highly Unqualified Vendor Staff | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Headquarters | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Headquarters Dictating a Solution | |
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| No Allowance for Resource Needs at the Local Level | |
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| Headquarters Attempting to Micromanage the Work in the Business Unit | |
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| Lack of Understanding of the Cultural and Political Differences Between Locations | |
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| Poor Communication Between the Business Unit and Headquarters | |
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| Too Frequent Turnover and Change of Headquarters People | |
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| Headquarters Changing Direction Often During Implementation | |
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| Headquarters Being Inflexible in the General Implementation of the Work | |
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| Headquarters Providing No Direction for the Work | |
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| Headquarters Not Providing the Necessary Funding | |
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| Issues and Questions Raised with Headquarters That Are Not Being Addressed | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Technology | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Merging and Combining of Technology Vendors | |
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| Lack of Integration with the Technology | |
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| Lack of Time to Adequately Learn the New Technology | |
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| Unclear Benefits of the New Technology | |
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| Need for a Decision as to Whether to Adopt a New Technology | |
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| Incompatibility of the Technologies in Use and of Potential Use | |
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| Privacy Concerns | |
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| New Technology Being Only an Incremental Improvement | |
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| Wide Range of Potential Technology Solutions | |
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| Vendor That Is Forcing an Upgrade | |
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| Lack of Standards | |
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| Technology That Is Changing Too Slowly or Too Rapidly | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Issues and Risks in Specific IT Activities | |
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| IT Strategic Planning | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Lack of Management Interest Once the Plan Is Approved | |
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| Difficulty Linking IT Planning Factors to the Business | |
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| High Management Expectations of the Planning Effort | |
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| Lack of a Defined Business Vision or Mission | |
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| Difficulty Showing the Benefits of Technology Projects in the Plan | |
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| Limited or No Resources to Do the Planning | |
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| Failure of Past Planning Efforts | |
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| Deciding Whether the IT Plan Should Be Business Driven or IT Driven | |
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| Business Being Unclear About What They Would Get from the Plan | |
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| Challenge in Turning Action Items in the Plan into Actions | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Analysis | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Incomplete Requirements | |
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| Inadequate Time to Gather Requirements | |
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| Users Lacking Knowledge of Their Own Processes | |
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| Users Not Being Creative in Developing Solutions | |
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| Unclear Benefits of the Work | |
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| Lack of Real Overall Measurement of the Process | |
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| Overly Formal and Unscalable Analysis Methods | |
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| Original Stated Problem Not Being the Real Problem | |
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| Real Problems Being Political and Not Technical | |
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| Lack of a Real Downside If the Project Is Not Done | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Software Packages | |
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| Introduction | |
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| No Software Package That Fits the Requirements | |
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| Lack of Vendor Support in the Client Location | |
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| Software with No New Releases in Some Time | |
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| Deciding Whether or Not to Move to a New Release | |
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| Lack of Vendor Support for the Product | |
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| Software Package Vendor That Was Acquired by Another Firm | |
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| Promised Features and Functions That Are Not There | |
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| Inadequate Product Documentation | |
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| Lack of Qualified Training in Use of the Software Package | |
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| Limited Flexibility of the Software Package | |
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| Substantial Hidden Costs of the Software Package | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Development | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Overreliance on One Person | |
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| Departure of a Key Person | |
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| Development Performed ad hoc Without Adequate Design | |
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| Lack of Emphasis on Testing | |
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| Inadequate Tools | |
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| Developers Who Do Not Share Knowledge | |
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| Lack of In-Depth Review of Work | |
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| Users Who Regularly Contact Programmers Directly | |
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| Lack of Teamwork Among Developers | |
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| Developers Who Cannot Agree on the Details of the Technical Approach | |
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| Few Guidelines for Doing the Work | |
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| Lack of Applying Past Knowledge and Experience | |
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| Developers Who Are Concentrating on the Easy Parts First | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Implementation | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Users Who Refuse to Accept Responsibility | |
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| Users Being Unavailable to Participate in the Implementation | |
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| Last-minute Requirement Changes | |
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| Lingering Issues | |
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| Resolved Issues That Become Unresolved | |
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| Incomplete or Unsuitable User Training | |
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| Users Who Resist Change During the Implementation | |
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| Users Who Continue to Work with the Old System | |
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| Problems with the Data Discovered During Data Conversion | |
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| User Management That Is Unwilling to Enforce Turnover to the New Process | |
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| Inadequate User Testing | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Operations and Support | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Many IT Staff Members Preferring Operations Support to Projects | |
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| Too Much Emergency Work | |
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| Some Staff Using Maintenance as a Chance to Redevelop Software | |
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| Overly Cozy Relationship Between Some IT Managers and Staff and Users | |
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| Overly Specialized Support Requirements | |
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| Lack of Measurement of Support and Maintenance | |
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| No Differentiation Between Maintenance and Enhancement | |
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| How Operations and Maintenance Should Be Managed | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| The Results of a Survey on IT Issues | |
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| The Magic Cross-Reference | |
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| Websites | |
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| Bibliography | |
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| Index | |