The need and importance of innovation have grown in the recent past. In fact, some information technology requests cannot yield results and benefits which are expected by customers. It is necessary to understand the reasons. There are specific areas of weakness that ought to be addressed. The following are some of them:
Lack of clear agreement
Usually, business units go directly to finding a solution to an issue without understanding the problem which is being addressed. For an IT deliver to be successful, you ought to prepare an agreement document. The business unit must accept the document.
This document should be clear and concise. It ought to include details and ensure the output of IT delivery meets the needs and requirements of the business. This is necessary for both sides to in agreement pertaining the problem and the suggested solution. Therefore, the document must include these items:
- Executive summary
- Outputs
- Plan/schedule
- Milestones
- Budget
- Risks
- Quality assurance
Weak project management
The project managers ought to coordinate and manage all project logistics involved. Usually, IT project managers focus only on delivery of the solution and fail to address other important factors such as:
- Planning
- Time estimating
- Defining scope
- Documentation
- Developing a budget
- Managing issues and risks
- Benefits realization
- Controlling quality
Although the above factors seem to be quite obvious in project management methodology, several IT deliveries fail since the manager focuses on a few of them. The manager ought to focus on enabling business unit’s expectations and delivery dates.
Inadequate planning
You should note that performance of successful delivery is related to the effectiveness of each planning phase. It is unfortunate that the IT teams fail to take adequate time to ensure the requested goals are achieved. In fact, lack of planning leads to overspending, improper scope, and untimely solution delivery.
Inadequate communication
The truth is that communication is quite important in IT delivery. A lot of IT teams work with business units during pre-implementation phase to gather requirements and design a solution. There is a need to have regular dialogue among project managers and executive management.
To improve IT delivery, you should address the above-discussed elements. The fact that IT teams focus on technological solutions and can at times become complacent to execute agreed deliverables, having a tangible document can help manage deliverables easily and effectively. This will save both parties effort and time to clarify expectations and ensure IT delivery is a success.