Identifying trouble patterns in complex IT services engagements
by K. Ratakonda,
R. Williams,
J. Bisceglia,
R. W. Taylor,
and J. Graham
What causes complex information technology services engagements
to fail? The root cause for the failure may derive from several
sources, including unclear requirements, poor project management
practices, underestimation of technical complexity, not accounting
for the overhead in using global labor arbitrage, and rapid scope or
schedule changes. In this paper, we explore how quantifiable
measures of project progress gathered at several important stages
of the life cycle of a project can aid in early identification of troubled
projects. Specifically, we define derived statistical measures that can
be used to predict the eventual outcome of a project. These
predictions are used to initiate accelerated risk mitigation plans.
In addition to the discussion surrounding the prediction models,
we also discuss the importance of the "packaging" and presentation
of the statistical data that result in the successful use of our
system. Our work has been adopted and used in a project health
management system that is deployed worldwide by IBM Global
Business Services.
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