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University of Cambridge
Kjetil Holgeid is a senior management consultant. He has
Dr. Mark Thompson is a University of Cambridge Lecturer
extensive experience from mega project delivery. He earned
in Information Systems and former Deputy Director of MBA
his Executive MBA degree from University of Cambridge,
programmes at Cambridge Judge Business School. He is a
Cambridge Judge Business School, and his Master of
Director of Methods Consulting, UK. He is a Senior Advisor
Science (Cand. Scient) degree in Computer Science from
to the UK Cabinet Office.
University of Oslo, Norway. He is recognized as an
Executive Scholar by Northwestern University, Kellogg
School of Management, USA. He was awarded the Executive
Certificate in Leadership and Management from MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of
Management, USA. He received Directors Award for
Outstanding Achievement from University of Cambridge,
Cambridge Judge Business School, UK.
http://www.agilemanifesto.org/
INTRODUCTION
MAIN FINDINGS
The
Successful project: The project is completed ontime and on-budget, with all features and
functions as initially specified
There is a pressing need for governments to avoid
Challenged project: The project is completed
gigantic IT failures and rather ensure realization of public
and operational but over-budget, over the time
service value. Consequently, there is a need for research
to better understand why some public projects fail and
estimate, and offers fewer features and functions
other succeed. We will explore New
to what
degree shows
projectssurprisingly high numbersthan
research
of originally specified
fail, seek to understand why they fail and suggest what we
Impaired project: The project is cancelled at
out-of-control tech projects - ones that can sink
can do to improve.
some point during the development cycle
Flyvbjerg
and Budzier (2011).
In spite of the various reasons cited for project
failure,
The Standish Group definition of success and failure has
there appears little consensus as to any emerging pattern
been challenged by Jorgensen and Molokken (2006).
in the existing literature. The literature points in several
They ask how to categorize a project that is on-time, and
1 ABSTRACT
directions and all claim a slice of the truth. This paper will
contextual
issuesallrelated
to project
failure The
we
on-budget,
but not with
specified
functionality.
There is overwhelming evidence that large IT projects By studying
look at some of the explanations of project failure and
reveal two core
size by
and pro-agile
volatility,1
definition
has contextual
also beendimensions;
challenged
indeed tend to fail, however the extent of failure is
seek to reveal the core underlying causes. Accordingly,
from which a new
The Contextual
IT Project
professionals
who framework
stress the -importance
of delivery
of
debated among academics and practitioners. IT projects
we attempt to pull together some of the key themes
Framework
emerged.
The
framework
is
leaning
towards
value rather than delivery according to pre-determined
seem to fail in both private and public sectors, however
emerging from existing work on project failure. In sum,
conceptions of causal agency theory and is intended to
specifications.
failure
in public
IT projects
appearpatterns
to be more
spectacular
this
paper
will clarify
underlying
contributing
to
help strategize towards successful projects, paying
due to size,
visibility
in media and
political
project
failure
and stimulate
even
more consequences.
debate in this
attention
to projects
we call
For particular
the purpose
of this
paper possessing
we adapt what
a pragmatic
academics
and practitioners.
hyper emergent
We by
emphasise
the
We important
highlight field
the among
importance
of several
contextual issues
definition
to success characteristics.
and failure inspired
the CHAOS
importance
of adjusted
strategizingslightly
wisely by
splitting
large efforts
such
as
how
to
handle
a
diverse
set
of
vendors,
how
to
report,
but
to
accommodate
the
Our key research questions are simple:
1
into manageable
pieces according
to risk profile, yet
avoid vendor lock-in, strategizing towards a piecemeal
important
issues
mentioned:
1. To
extent do large
IT projects
fail? lack of
putting proper measures in place to maintain a clear view
approach
to what
modernization,
strategies
to counter
2. ITWhy
do IT projects
fail? service, the importance
of the bigger picture.
skilled
professionals
in public
of organization
perspectives
such as group
3. What canbehavior
be done about
it?
dynamics and group formation and finally the importance Keywords: Public Project Failure, Project Success,
Emergent, Causal Agency, Emergent Perspective
change management. 1
P aofgproper
e
1|Page
This paper is accepted for publication as chapter in the book project "The
Governance of Large-Scale Projects Linking Citizens and the State", The Hertie School of Governance and the
Journal for Political Consulting and
Debate triggers
CHAOS (1994)
Flyvbjerg and Budzier (2011)
"White Space"
Kotter (1995) .
Fishenden and Thompson (2012)*
McAfee (2006) *
McManus and Wood-Harper (2007)*
Niche application
Whitfield (2007)
Sauer, Gemino and Reich
(2007)
*PASC (2011)
Page
This paper is accepted for publication as chapter in the book project "The
Governance of Large-Scale Projects Linking Citizens and the State", The Hertie School of Governance and the
Journal for Political Consulting and
IT project failure
Fishenden and Thompson (2012) take the argument
The
UK Public
Accounts
Spending
Committee
(PASC)
further, and rather than just pointing towards lousy
Government
typically
contracts
for large,
undifferentiated
review
of central
ICT,out PASC
(2011),
management they call for a new approach to public
systems that
have notgovernment
been separated
into highand
examined
how government uses IT and what the barriers
service
altogether.
low-risk components
StandishIT Reports
are Fishenden
available, and
but Thompson
not freely suggest
in the
are to
improvement.
PASC reports
evidence
of IT The use
Instead
of further
bundling
up standardised,
low-risk
components
of
open
standards
and
architectures
that not
allow
public
domain.
We
have
therefore
been
careful
to
mismanagement
pointssuccessful),
out an arraygovernment
of high cost has
IT
(which might beandmore
government
to
become
technology
agnostic
which
over
reference
results
from
CHAOS
years
that
are
not
publicly
initiatives
that have failed
over the last 20 years.
outsourced/developed
an undifferentiated
mix of high and
time
will drive both innovation and reduce cost due to
available.
low-risk together, resulting in a inability to identify and
competition. This will, according to Fishenden and
The control
PASC report
found that the failure of IT projects was
key risks
Thompson (2011, page 1), create a powerful dynamic,
rarely
due
to
the technology
itself (like
several deeply
other The Standish Group reported in 1994 that the average cost
Proprietary technologies
are also
typically
driving
dis-integration
of was
traditional
black
overrun of
software projects
as high as
189%,boxed
while
reports,
for with
example
Hodgsonbusiness
(2002)),logic,
rather meaning
it was duethat
to
integrated
supporting
technologies
and
services,
traditionally
organized
around
more
recent
cost
overrun
results
reported
by
the
Standish
mismanagement,
flaws in the underlying
or its
entire departments/functions/processes
need policy
to be tackled
system
integrators
and lower
Departmental
structures, and
Group and
others show
results (Jorgensen
implementation.
PASC
concluded
with
six
underlying
in one go, rather than in bits.
their
re-aggregation
around
thecould
citizen
in the
of
Molokken,
2006,
Table
1).
This
be
seen
as aform
tribute
causes of failure in government IT:
services.
to advancement in the discipline of IT project
We will link back to this discussion of contextual issues
management. However, critics such as Jorgensen and
when we present a consolidated literature analysis later in Fishenden and Thompson highlight the failure of the
Molokken question the validity of the 1994 CHAOS
the paper.
we suggest resulting
that these
contextual
Meanwhile,
Inadequate information,
in the
traditional
to modernisation
of the cost
public
sector
report and approach
claims most
other studies reveal
overruns
issues formGovernment
a useful background
to to
ourmanage
discussion
being unable
its ITof the
which
has
been
characterized
as
the
era
of
New
Public
in the range of about 30%. As a general note, it is hard to
other main findings below. needs
Management
of NPM
compare such(NPM).
studies The
due underlying
to variationshypothesis
in definitions,
for
successfully
of
privatein sector
style, market-oriented
to
example
the CHAOS
report successfulapproaches
projects are
Marrow
3.2
failure
Diagnosing
An over-reliance
on a small number of large
public
services
led to government
disaggregating
excluded
from theoften
cost overrun
% calculation.
In this chapter
we will
building
our knowledge
of the
suppliers
andstart
the virtual
exclusion
of small and
many of its functions. Further, NPM is encouraging
High
Low
extent tomedium
which
IT
projects
according towhich
our Transparency/Reliability
research
Evencompetition
though the
Standish
CHAOS
reports
are sector
being
sized
(SME)fail,
IT contractors,
tend
between
different
parts of
the public
question #1. We will keep returning
to the extent of
debated,
academics
andprivate
practitioners
to agree
to
and
between
public and
sectors. seem
Dunleavy
et al. that
failure in the
chapters,
gradually
building
our
the failure
IT (illustrative).
projects
is significant,
as presented
be following
less risk adverse
more innovative
(2005) rate ofhighlights
that
many of the
promised
Figure
1and
: Literature
review
: Applicability
vs Transparency/Reliability
understanding.
throughout
this
literature
A failure to integrate IT into
wider
benefits
of
Thethe
axes
of thepolicy
matrixand
is inspired by Flyvbjerg
and
Budzier
(2012).review.
business change programmes
disaggregation had failed to materialise, rather
The Standish
Group
CHAOS
reports on
ITcomplex
failure have
3.3 they
Understanding failure
A
tendency
to commission
large,
been widely referenced andprojects
as mentioned earlier in this In this chapter
we will
look at ofseveral
piecesadministrative
of literature
provide
examples
increased
report, their definitions
of success
and
failure have been
in order complexity,
to betterand
understand
why projects
struggle
to adaptrepresents
to changing
The Food for which
thought
quadrant
pieces of transparent/reliable,
upon which
one fail,
can according
call for
debated.
CHAOS
reports seem
to that
be widely
to ourbased
research
question
#2. Weand
cross-reference
the
circumstances
vertical
siloing
of agencies,
difficulties in coliterature However,
which arethe
suggesting
interesting
ideas
might
broad
action.
recognized
in
thestudy.
industry.
Standish
Group publishes
literatureordinating
and provide
we go along, gradually
Over-specifying
security
requirements
jointanalysis
service as
delivery.
deserve further
The The
Niche
application
quadrant
arepresents
report
ITlack
failures
approximately
second
year Below
we willup briefly
presentError!
each Reference
piece of the
selected
building
to chapter
source
not
on
The
of literature
sufficient
leadership
and skills
pieces
of
which
areevery
backed
bytoselect
and
claims
to
have
been
collecting
case
information
on
As
a
response,
Fishenden
and
Thompson
suggest
a
move
literature
according
to
main
findings,
and
will
make
found. which is dedicated to a consolidated analysis. crossdatasets from
a IT
particular
or geography
manage
within thesector
Civil Service,
and in (for
real-life
IT particular
environments
and of
software
development
towards
open
architecture
government
to
references
and analysis
as weif go
along. Thisis isactually
followed
example public
service
UK).
The
quadrant
Debate
the in
absence
an intelligent
projects
1985.
Their applicable
cumulativepieces
research
includes The impact
ofDigital
size and
volatility
by a literature
review
analysis (DEG,
where Dunleavy
we suggest
a new
achieve
Era
Governance
et al
triggers since
contains
broadly
of literature
17
yearsmight
of data
on why
fail, In line
with
Jorgensen
and core
Molokken,
Gemino
and
contextual
framework
to ofhelp
strategize
towards
(2006)
). The
DEG Sauer,
is re-aggregating
of
which
benefit
fromprojects
furthersucceed
proof orand/or
The representing
lack of ICTmore
skillsthan
in 80,000
government
and IT
over-reliance
on
completed
projects.
Reich (2007)
also challenge
Group
CHAOS
successful
projects.
In sum,thetheStandish
following
analysis
is
public
transparency. Finally, the quadrant Basis for broad-based
contracting out were reported as fundamental problems
reports. services
Inas aa large-scale
study
of projects
by 412
intended
contribution
tounder
the
body
knowledge
leveraging
directof led
government
action proposes universal truths to avoid public project
whichofhave
resulted
in poor
achievement
Examples
Standish
research
findings
by year: and constitute
experienced
project managers
and
regarding
project
failure, asin UK,
well Sauer,
as toGemino
stimulate
control
failure, typically backed by solid empirical evidence.
even a "recipe for rip-offs". The PASC report stresses the
Reich found
that the
67%
of projects
were
close
to
discussions
among
academics
and
around
citizen,
as practitioners.
well delivered
leveraging
new
to address
lack ofnot
skills
budget, schedule
and scope expectations, contrary to the
The pressing
matrix need
aboveforisgovernment
an illustration,
and the
should
be
technology
and
leadership
from positioning
senior management
necessary
for the We CHAOS
will briefly
present
the
selected
literature,
findings.
However,
even though
Sauer,clustered
Gemino
viewed
as a precise
of each piece
of literature.
such
as
cloud
computing,
apps
development
and
effective
of IT. The
report states
around
(1)
contextual
factors,
(2)
diagnosing
and Reich
found
the
software
crisis
not
to
befailure,
as bad(3)
as
Rather, itprocurement
represents and
our use
subjective
observations
and
other
The
Governments
inability
to actsuccess
as an and
intelligent
understanding
failure,
(4)
preventing
failure.
This
is
the Standish
Group,
it
is
still
alarming.
The
studys
illustrates
why research
in project
failure
recent innovations moving towards an online
customer
seems to be
consequence
its decision
to
followed
by a consolidated
literature
review
analysis
statisticalcivilization
analysis
indicates
that
the
IT
projects
included
indeed is interesting
as athere
is a large of
white
space for
(Dunleavy and Margetts, 2010).
outsource
a islarge
of its ITand
contracts. PASC
where we suggest a new contextual framework to help
research that
both amount
highly applicable
(2011, page 32). Further, the PASC report quotes Dr.
Fishenden and Thompson suggest that Governments
P
intention of minimizing risk in IT delivery remains
PP aaa ggg eee
1994
2009
Projects Succeeded:
16%
32%
This paper
as chapter in the book project "The
Projects
Failed: is accepted
31% for publication
24%
Projects
Challenged: of Large-Scale
53%
44%
Governance
Projects -
Linking
Citizens
and
the State", The Hertie School of Governance and the
Source:
CHAOS (1994),
Standish
(2009)
Journal for Political Consulting and
Abandoned (9%)
Budget Challenged (5%)
Schedule Challenged (18%)
Good Performers (60%)
Star Performers (7%)
Page
This paper is accepted for publication as chapter in the book project "The
Governance of Large-Scale Projects Linking Citizens and the State", The Hertie School of Governance and the
Journal for Political Consulting and
to
This paper is accepted for publication as chapter in the book project "The
Governance of Large-Scale Projects Linking Citizens and the State", The Hertie School of Governance and the
Journal for Political Consulting and
found
The eight
that phases
out of to
thesuccessful
214 projects
change
examined,
are, according
24% were
to
cancelled.
Kotter: In 20% of the cases the cancellation was due to
issues related to the business/organization. In 53% of the
a sense
urgency
cases1. theEstablishing
cancellation
was of
due
to management-related
2. and
Form
powerful
guiding was
coalition
issues,
in a27%
cancellation
due to technology3. issues.
Create a vision
related
4. Communicate the vision
The average
duration others
of the
examined
projects was 26
5. Empower
to act
on the vision
months,
budget
6. and
Planthe
for average
and create
short was
termapprox.
wins 6M. It was
found
7. that
Consolidate
more than half
improvements
of the projects
andlarger
produce
than 6
more
M
ran over change
schedule more than 18 months and actual cost
8. Institutionalize
thethan
new4.2M.
approaches.
exceeded
budget by more
This implication of
size (both budget and duration) is supported by for
Rather
than Sauer,
focusing
on and
success
isolation,
example
Gemino
Reichfactors
(2007) in
as discussed
Kotter prescribes a process to follow to get the
earlier.
organization moving in the desired direction. Several
studies
havecause
pointedof out
the lack
of ability
manage
Another
major
failure
identified
by toMcManus
large Wood-Harper
IT projects aswas
one the
key total
reasonreliance
why they
fail, for
and
placed
on
example PASC (2011)
andcan
Whitney
(2007). managers
In the lightand
of
methodologies.
Methods
help project
Kotters paper,
has not
to do
developers,
but wecansuggest
also this
become
an only
excuse
for with
not
lack of traditional
project
discipline
but also
engaging
with people
andmanagement
problems. An
explanation
for
lack
of
competence
in
leading
change
journeys.
this could be lack of leadership within the delivery
process. Processes alone are far from enough to cover
McAfee
(2006) states
that business
should
not
the complexity
and human
aspect of leaders
many large
projects
underestimate
resistance
when
they
impose
changes
in
the
subject to multiple stakeholders, resource and ethical
ways
people
work.
The
degree
of
change
impact
drives
constraints. McManus and Wood-Harper (2007, page
the extent to which such change needs to be facilitated by
43).
an experienced leader. Building consensus in the
organisation
is important,
but successful implementers are
3.4 Preventing
failure
also
willing
to
push
ahead
having
everyone
on
In this chapter we will focus onwithout
literature
addressing
ways
board
when
needed.
to avoid failures, according to our research question #3.
we focus
on earlyare
detection
of potential
IT
The Below,
suggestions
of McAfee
very much
in linefailure,
with the
projects
as
change
journeys,
risk
management
strategies
change process outlined by Kotter. McAfee further
and
management
stresses
that IT principles.
project success and failure seem to be
more
towards
Earlyattributed
detection of
potential
failureleadership and management
aspects
rather
than
pure
issues,point
also indicated
Kappelman, McKeeman andtechnology
Zhang (2006)
out that
by
McManus
and
Wood-Harper
(2007)
and
PASC
long before the failure is acknowledged there are(2011).
usually
significant symptoms or early warning signs of trouble.
Risk management strategies
TheirKloppenborg
article describes
top 12(2007)
people-related
Tesch,
and the
Frolick
identify and
IT
technology-related
IT
project
risks,
based
on project
early
project risk factors that pose threats to successful
warning
sign data
collected
from into
a panel
of 19 experts
implementation.
Risks
are grouped
six categories
and
and
a
survey
of
55
IT
managers.
IT
project
risk
is grouped
corresponding strategies for avoiding or mitigating
the
into
categories: people, process and product risks,
risks three
are proposed.
and the authors found that all of the highest rated early
warning signs belong to the people and the process risk
categories. This resonates well with the findings of
McManus and Wood-Harper (2007).
The
to
Page
Risk Category
Top rated Risks
This paper isProject
accepted
for publication
as chapter in the book project "The
Sponsorship/Ownership
has inadequate
top
Governance ofmanagement
Large-Scale
Projects commitment
Funding and
Scheduling
Linking
Citizens
and
the
State",
The Hertie School of Governance and the
Entire
project
must
be
budgeted
at the outset and
Journal for Political
Consulting
Personnel and staffing
Project lacks enough staff
or right skills
http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
Whitfield (20
A->
+->
PASC (201
Ol
T1
r-j
in
o
o
schools of thought emerge here: the efficiency
fN
~f
school and the effectiveness school. The more traditional
tu
efficiency school defines success largely by timely and
>
>
on-budget delivery according to specification. In contrast,
in
G
1
o
o
McAfee (20
Two
'.Jj
particular,
o indeed tend to fail. IT projects display an
alarming rate of failure in terms of both schedule and cost
overruns. Perhaps even more severely, large projects have
a tendency not to deliver the promised value, and some
na
are abandoned with a huge net loss, having failed to
realize any value at all. Large scale public IT projects are
typically triggered by policy reform and consequently
highly visible in the media as taxpayers money is on the
line.
The literature review has revealed common core themes
contributing to success and failure of public IT projects.
Leadership-related issues emerge as the over-arching
Xtheme.
X
X Although
X
Xproper
X
X
technology
strategy and
Ximplementation
X
X
X
X
needX to be in place,
IT projects seldom
related Xissues.
Throughout the
Xfail due toX technology
X
X
literature review
this viewX seems X to be a common
X
X
denominator, even though each piece of literature places
X
X
X
X
X
differing emphasis on the various leadership/management
X
X
factors addressed. This is illustratedXin the table below,
X determining
X IT project failure are
where the main causes
mapped across the
X literature
X reviewed.
X
10 | P a g e
This paper is accepted for publication as chapter in the book project "The
Governance of Large-Scale Projects Linking Citizens and the State", The Hertie School of Governance and the
Journal for Political Consulting and
12
11 || P
P aa gg ee
This paper is accepted for publication as chapter in the book project "The
Governance of Large-Scale Projects Linking Citizens and the State", The Hertie School of Governance and the
Journal for Political Consulting and
As
for
This paper is accepted for publication as chapter in the book project "The
Governance of Large-Scale Projects Linking Citizens and the State", The Hertie School of Governance and the
Journal for Political Consulting and
14 | P a g e
This paper is accepted for publication as chapter in the book project "The
Governance of Large-Scale Projects Linking Citizens and the State", The Hertie School of Governance and the
Journal for Political Consulting and
CONCLUSION
As
This paper is accepted for publication as chapter in the book project "The
Governance of Large-Scale Projects Linking Citizens and the State", The Hertie School of Governance and the
Journal for Political Consulting and
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
REFERENCES
16 | P a g e
This paper is accepted for publication as chapter in the book project "The
Governance of Large-Scale Projects Linking Citizens and the State", The Hertie School of Governance and the
Journal for Political Consulting and
2009,
2009.p
17 | P a g e
This paper is accepted for publication as chapter in the book project "The
Governance of Large-Scale Projects Linking Citizens and the State", The Hertie School of Governance and the
Journal for Political Consulting and