1 The Challenge: IT Industry Example

According to the Standish Group research firm, the US Information Technology (IT) industry spent $346 Billion on projects in 2006.

Their research study found that 46% of projects were challenged and 19% failed, whereas only 35% were successful. (The larger the projects, the lower the success ratio).

Top reasons for challenges and failures include:

Lack of end-user involvement
Lack of executive management support
Unclear business objectives
Inexperienced project managers
Lack of formal process methodologies

At PIEmatrix, we feel the last reason ties back to the other four. For example, the risk of failure increases if there is no process in place to keep users involved and the project aligned. Also, if there are no best-practices in place, executives may not have the full confidence of success, or may not have access to real-time progress.