IT Project Management: Evaluating IT Project Failures and Chaos

This report evaluates the causes of IT project failures by analyzing chaos reports and case studies. It examines factors like poor planning, cost and time overruns, and content deficiencies, drawing on the Standish Group's research. The report includes case studies of failed projects like the Hershey ERP implementation and the California DMV project, highlighting the importance of clear objectives, realistic expectations, and proper planning. The analysis emphasizes the need for effective project management to mitigate risks and improve project success rates. The report concludes by reiterating the critical role of proper planning and realistic expectations in achieving project success. The report provides a detailed analysis of IT project failures to help students and professionals understand the common pitfalls in IT project management.

Running head: IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT
IT Project Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Abstract................................................................................................................................2
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
IT project disasters: Reasons?.............................................................................................2
Findings: Case Studies.........................................................................................................3
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................4
References............................................................................................................................5

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Abstract
The purpose of this report is to evaluate the issues and problems that certain IT projects faced.
The reason of project failure is evaluated on basis of different IT projects failure and chaos
reports. The main objective of this report is to analyze the objections or reasons of the chaos.
Different chaos reports are analyzed in order to understand the main reason of IT project failure
and the problems associated with those failed projects.
Introduction
The chaos reports on IT project failure for last few years are analyzed in order to
understand the problems associated with the failed projects. Success of a project depends on
many variable, similarly there are different reasons behind failure of a project. Going through the
chaos reports of project failure helps in analyzing the different risks associated with a project,
which further helps in identifying the risk mitigation approaches for similar projects in future
(Hussain & Mkpojiogu, 2016). For example, the ERP implementation project of Hershey, that
failed due to improper project planning and project schedule. The findings of the chaos report
from Standish group are elaborated in the following paragraphs.
IT project disasters: Reasons?
The chaos report by Standish groups identifies the scope of the software project failures,
the major factors associated with a project and the process by which the project failures can be
reduced. According to a report of Standish group, it is found out that almost 52.7% of the
projects costs 189% of their original estimates while 31.1% of the projects are generally
cancelled before their completion (The Standish Group Report, 2014). The main reason of cost
overruns in the project is improper measurement and project planning. The research further show

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that in the year 2012, only 32% of all the project that is included in the Standish group chaos
report succeeded or is delivered on time. In 2012, 18% of the project failed because it was
cancelled before its completion. Another major cause of cost overruns in the projects is restart of
the project as according to the Standish reports, with every 100 project, there are almost 94
restart. This however, does not imply that 94 individual projects will have a single restart. Some
projects can have several restart and therefore the result is so drastic (Marques et al., 2013). Say
for example, the project of California Department of Motor Vehicles that failed had many
restarts. Apart from cost overruns, time overruns is a major cause of project failure. On an
overage, the average time overruns is almost 222% of the original time estimate in failed
projects. Content deficiency is another major cause of the project chaos and failure. Large
companies generally have worst record as only 42% of the content functions in the end product
(Oakes, 2016). Therefore improper specifications of the project functions is a major reason of
chaos hat is faced in IT projects.
In order to understand the reason why projects fail, the Standish group surveyed different
IT executive mangers in understanding the reasons why project succeed. One of the major
requirements of project success is proper planning. Cost and time overruns in the projects are
faced mainly because of improper project planning. Furthermore, it is essential to set realistic
expectations as well. The Hershey ERP implementation project failed mainly because of
unrealistic expectation of completing the project in a much constricted time (Ghosh, 2012). The
findings of the chaos report by Standish group are elaborated in the following section.
Findings: Case Studies

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In 1987, the IT project of California Department of Motor Vehicles failed because of
poor planning, improper project designing and unclear objectives. While in the year 1994, the
project of American Airlines failed sue to improper requirements analysis and lack of user
involvement in the project. The project associated with the reservation system of Hyatt hotels
failed because it was running ahead of schedule and under budget. On the other hand the project
of Banco Itamarati failed as the project had no clear vision and documented specific objectives
of the project. Therefore, it is found that improper planning and estimation plays a major role
behind a project failure (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017).
Conclusion
The report analyzes the different data collected from the researches of Standish group on
IT disaster and project failure. The report highlights the main reasons of project failure and cites
some example of some famous projects that failed to implement according to the project plan.
Having a clear vision about the project is an essential criterion of project success. Similarly
setting up of a realistic expectation is needed as well.

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References
Ghosh, R. (2012). A comprehensive study on ERP failures stressing on reluctance to change as a
cause of failure. Journal of Marketing and Management, 3(1), 123.
Hussain, A., & Mkpojiogu, E. O. (2016, August). Requirements: Towards an understanding on
why software projects fail. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1761, No. 1, p.
020046). AIP Publishing.
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Marques, A., Varajão, J., Sousa, J., & Peres, E. (2013). Project Management Success ICE
model–a work in progress. Procedia Technology, 9, 910-914.
Oakes, G. (2016). Project reviews, assurance and governance. Gower.
The Standish Group Report. (2014). Retrieved from https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/white-
papers/chaos-report.pdf