IT Success! : Towards a New Model for Information Technology PDF

Fifty years after the birth of corporate computing, IT today is still characterized by 50-70% project failure rates. Which is pretty scary when you come to think of it: either a goblin has cast a spell on a whole profession or that profession is doing something fundamentally wrong .

IT Success! challenges the widespread assumption that an IT department is like a building contractor whose project managers, architects and engineers (all construction industry terms ) are supposed to deliver systems on schedule, within budget and to spec. Michael Gentle explains why this is not possible, and turns conventional wisdom on its head by showing that:

• you cannot define an IT project in terms of contractual budgets and schedules
• anything can change during the life of a project
• what is eventually delivered can never be what is actually needed

He proposes a new model for IT in which the traditional client/vendor relationship, with its contractual commitments, is replaced by a shared risk/reward partnership geared towards workable results over time. Using real-world examples and a case study, the author walks you through the end-to-end processes of an IT department, covering subjects like demand management, investment planning, agile development and managing production applications.