Analysis of project management issues in information technology industry: an overview of literature

Abstract

In Industries many projects are undertaken for execution for a specific purpose. This stands in contrast with business as usual (or operations), which are repetitive, permanent, or semi-permanent functional activities to produce products or services. In practice, the management of these two systems is often quite different, and as such requires the development of distinct technical skills and management strategies. It has been observed that the challenges which project managers face are unrealistic deadlines, communication deficit, scope creep, failure in risks management etc. These challenges can lead a project to failure or can lead to schedule and/or budget overrun. As per a survey done in 2011 just for IT industry projects, it was observed that only 37 % of projects were completed as per original plan, rest of the projects either were challenged and exceeded the original baseline OR got scrapped. More than $1 trillion was the financial burden due to IT project failure in the US alone. It is evident from this statistics that organizations need to manage projects efficiently and effectively. This paper attempts to discuss the key variables which decide the fate of an IT project. As per the analysis done these factors, if paid attention to, can help project managers to keep the project on track. Some of the papers on construction industry (other projectized industry) also were studied to check for similarity or difference in the challenges with respect to IT industry. It has also been discussed some of the statistical techniques which authors are using for further studies for developing the models. Based on the studies and research made so far it has been found that there is very large financial impact due very low rate of project execution success with respect to the scope, schedule and cost baselines. Authors studied dependent (challenges in project management), independent (stakeholder management, risk management etc.), moderating and intervening variables for this challenge. Authors found out that there are 6 major independent variables viz. stakeholder management, baseline definition (scope, schedule, cost and quality), communication management, human resources and their skillset, risk and issue management, project control methodology, which impacts the success of the project if not managed properly. Authors are further carrying out the research to develop a model using statistical techniques like discriminant analysis using these variables.