Need that extra push for your IT project?
IT projects can be notoriously tricky to manage and the risk of failure could be great. One 2012 study from Oxford University and McKinsey of large-scale projects worth $15m or more found that nearly half ran over budget, 7% skipped deadlines and 56% delivered less value than envisaged.
Common challenges include a lack of a clear project mandate, poor clarity of expectations or imperfect communication between the IT team and the rest of the business. Equally, sometimes the end needs of the user are not considered enough. Of course, the demands on IT projects and their resources are now greater than ever before and deadlines tighter. At other times, the resources an organisation has are almost, but not quite enough to meet the demands of a particular project, especially as it nears completion.
What is needed in such cases is not a radical new approach or extensive fresh resources. All that is required is a final extra push to complete work to deadline and budget, and with all business goals for the project met. There are a few ways of finding that vital extra push. One you may not have previously considered is the use of external, short-term project managers as additional staff on your project. This essentially involves assessing the skills and staff that are needed, then combining efficient use of these with the support of an external provider to plug the gaps. The technique is highly flexible so that extra resources are only brought in as and when they are needed, for as long as they are required. For more information click here.
The cost model is also very straightforward (rate times hours worked), the contracting effort involved is minimal, and things can be scaled up or down very quickly in response to a project’s needs. It’s much less of a long-term commitment than traditional outsourcing. (Although we do also offer this in the form of managed I.T. services). At the same time, there’s very little impact on an organisations current operating model. So adding extra project management resources can be ideal if you need just a little extra help to get a job finished, even if that’s at short notice. Talk to us today about how we could help give your IT project that final push it needs.