Why Web Projects Fail

1

Why web projects fail…

… and what you can do about it

Why info projects fail

Oct 2009


Oct 2009 2

hendriko


Oct 2009 4

pri.studio360

Projects Fail


Oct 2009 5

Bitman

Failure can be

ambiguous


Oct 2009 8

lsie esq.

Poor link to organisational

objectives


Oct 2009 9

Green-Ghost

Unclear scope and

requirements


Oct 2009 10

jurvetson

Lack of executive

commitment / involvement


Oct 2009 11

Hamed Saber

Unmanaged change


Oct 2009 12

qmnonic

Unmanaged risks

(often undiscussables)


Oct 2009 13

aturkus

Poor communications(internal and external)


Oct 2009 14

Unrealistic estimates,

schedules, staffing, tools


Oct 2009

Web Projects

15

pri.studio360

Complex stakeholders

Deal with intangibles

High visibility

Immature foundations

Merge into operations

Anyone can build a “website”…

… but not one that scales, runs reliably, etc


Oct 2009 16

Simon Schoeters

Project failures become

apparent when we run into

reality

We lose touch with reality as

we estimate, negotiate,

track progress, …

Complexity, optimism, power

games, cognitive biases, fear all

exacerbate the problem

Much project management is

about building mechanisms to

keep in touch with reality

Note: The failure actually happened long

before it became apparent.

To avoid disaster, identify the failure while

it can be remedied and learned from.

17


Oct 2009

Marcin Wichary

Why don’t we recognise

failures earlier?

Because projects are run by people…


Oct 2009 18

jack_spellingbacon

Overconfidence


Oct 2009 19

futureatlas.com

Oversimplification


Oct 2009 20

annia316

Avoiding pain


Oct 2009 21

Antoaneta

Confirmation

bias


Oct 2009 22

Madzik

Repetition bias


Oct 2009 23

condour

Perceptual biases


Oct 2009 24

lostajy

25


Oct 2009

AlphaGeek

Recommendations to improve review artefacts

Review execution

Inputs

Artefacts & otheritems to review, plus supporting details.

Outputs

Improved

artefacts.

Go / No -go

decision.

Baseline Criteria ReferenceModels

Control parameters

Feedback

to improve

reference

models

Analysis Loop

Reviews

26


Oct 2009

oskay

Iterations

27


Oct 2009

kakutani

Metrics

28


Oct 2009

sidstamm

Plan for change(Plan as guide, not crutch)

29


Oct 2009

Separate project from

operations

30


Oct 2009

Communicate

ky_olsen

Summary

We engage with risks to achieve rewards

Sometimes the risks win

Complexity and intangibility exacerbate the risks

We recognise failure when we run into reality

If we keep in touch with reality, the bump is less dramatic

Watch reality, not the plan


Oct 2009 31

Two types of failure

a) Failure you can learn from

b) Failure that kills you

Thank You

32


Oct 2009

33

Making sense of technology… Many organisations are caught up in the

complexity of technology and systems.

This complexity may be inherent to thetechnology itself. It may be created by the pace of technology change. Or it may arise from the surrounding process, people and governance structures.

We help untangle this complexity and define business strategies that both can be implemented and will be adopted by people throughout the organisation and its partner network. We then help assure delivery of implementation projects.

Clients… Cisco Worldwide Education – Architecture and research for e-learning and educational systems

Council of Europe – Systems for monitoring compliance with international treaties; e-learning systems

Dover Harbour Board – Systems and architecture review

EUMETSAT – ECM Roadmap

MessageLabs – Architecture and assurance for partner management portal

National Savings & Investments – Helped NS&I and BPO partner develop joint IS strategy

The Open University – Enterprise architecture, CRM and product development strategies

Oxfam – Strategy for content management, CRM, e-Commerce

Thames Valley Police – Internet Consultancy

Sony Computer Entertainment – Global process definition

Amnesty International, Endemol, tsoosayLabs, Vodafone, …

Graham Oakes Ltd


Oct 2009

Documents

Why Web Projects Fail