Misleading IT project costs

Program, project, phase one, two, or three. Communication about the costs of the current scope and the overall project can be challenging. ...

... "Jeffrey defended the declaration of the GBP2.3bn price, saying that the answer given only related to approved costs. " ...

Via Computing: MoD may have misled parliament

Project ReBaseline

Statistics on IT projects are not flattering and may be obscured by manipulating baselines. Baselines on budget, schedule, effort, etc. are tools for assessing progress against plan. Re-baselining is appropriate for significant scope changes. For multi-year projects, it may be worthwhile to baseline and track performance against scope / work packages, which can be useful for showing improving project / team efficiencies. What are your experiences with baselines? good or bad. ...

... "As the report points out, rebaselining can be used to mask cost overruns and missed deadlines. Of course, there are legitimate reasons for rebaselining ... " ...

Via Information Week: Success Of An IT Project

When to Pull Project Plug

CIO needs insight on the projects in the IT portfolio and whether pulling the plug is necessary. Ways to accomplish that are stage-gate or toll-gate framework, scoping for time to value, and dashboards. ...

... "the company has established a gate process in which each project stage has a set of requirements that are established and assessed by gatekeepers who evaluate whether projects should proceed ... " ...

IT Projects

Project Early Warning System

If we can detect project problems early, we can resolve them. What's your best indicator? Scope quality, SPI / CPI, QA results? ...

... "In general, the earlier you spot trouble, the easier it is to do something positive about it - anything from making minor adjustments to scope or schedule to killing the thing outright. " ...

Via CIO: Project Rescue

Real World Project Management

There's a good interview on Projects@Work with Susan Snedaker, author of How to Cheat at IT Project Management.

Some key points (paraphrased):

• At status meetings, focus on outcomes instead of endless discussions on issues.
• To insure risks aren't overlooked, appoint a "risk management" person on your project team and/or specify checkpoint milestones on your project.
• To control scope, use past lessons to remind stakeholders of the potential impact of scope creep.
• If you don't like dealing with people ---- well, get out of project management (or at least take a more specialized role on projects).

All good points! Here's the interview...

http://www.projectsatwork.com/content/Articles/236152.cfm