5 Project Points of Failure to Avoid - 2 and 3

2. Business Misfit
Even when an IT project is implemented beautifully, it can be a failure. If a technology or a process doesn’t fit with the business needs or sync with the way the organization operates the project has the potential to be a waste of money. IT teams need to be in touch with business stakeholders to get a clear picture of the business needs to ensure projects fit within the business schema.

“The only ones who can determine what is needed for the business are the owners of the business processes,” says Mike Sisco, president of MDE Enterprises, a Columbia, Tenn.-based IT management training firm. “IT is not in a great position to know what’s the best for the billing organization, or the accounting organization, or the operational people out there selling widgets and servicing clients.”

*See also: 8 Ways To Save Your Next Project

3. Unilateral Decision Making
When IT fails to involve business leaders while planning new initiatives that affect business operations, the technology department risks a business misfit. When business leaders decide IT needs to do a project with specific parameters without asking about the project’s feasibility, they risk a poorly implemented project or one that goes above cost and past deadlines.

“The first thing you can do very early is go through a project chartering exercise,” McConnell says. “Project chartering involves all of the project representatives, so it must involve technical staff and leadership and also involve the business stakeholders in the project.”

Putting everyone at the same table ensures that nobody makes a shortsighted unilateral decision.