#Entry 8

When I started writing this series of articles, I had thought of contributing on a regular basis. However, it has been more than a month since I was able to publish my last article. Hopefully I will be able to reverse the trend in the coming weeks.

My MBA days were coming to an end, and I was learning more and more on both ITIL and PRINCE2 now. It was during this time that I came across the Three Truths of IT Success - Krigsman, M., & Krigsman, M. (2010, April 6). Three truths of IT success. Enterprise Irregulars. https://enterpriseirregulars.com/15936/three-truths-of-it-success/

I really liked the focus on Value creation and human resources- 2 points which are relevant even a decade after the article was published. One of the things that also intrigued me at this juncture was how a lot of articles made a mention of the fact that process frameworks such as PRINCE2/ PMP, CMMI, ITIL, COBIT and so on are important, but do not guarantee project success. Till date I am yet to come across enough information to take an informed judgment if following process frameworks leads to more projects failing. I have always believed that the foundations of the process frameworks are based on years of experience of the authors and contributors across multiple organisations of different shapes, sizes and colour and hence following them in an ideal world should lead to projects being in a better shape, more often than not.

Recently I came across this article on Forbes- E. (2018, May 3). 8 Steps To Project Success, Even If You’re Not A Project Manager. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellevate/2018/05/03/8-steps-to-project-success-even-if-youre-not-a-project-manager/?sh=738ee0de3fcd

I feel even though the 8 steps mentioned are noteworthy, surely a project’s success/ project management in general cannot be summarised in so few words. Over the last decade, based on the several IT projects that I have been a part of, one of the observations that I have is that a lot of managers have assumed that the process frameworks are not applicable for their projects/ initiatives. While I have not seen any one solution fits all when it comes to process frameworks, I believe most of the IT initiatives will end up benefiting from one process framework or the other. Let’s take up the case of ITIL as an example. Even before managers or organisations can think of using ITIL whole-heartedly in their initiatives/ projects/ programs, they need to first understand the best way of tweaking ITIL as per their organisational needs. And this is the step where a lot of organisations tend to go wrong.

Team, T. S. (2012, July 3). 10 Reasons Why Your ITIL Implementation Will Fail. https://www.sunviewsoftware.com/blog/learn/blog/10-reasons-why-your-itil-implementation-fail

This is just one article that I found useful back in the day when I still considered myself a fresher in the world of ITIL. Even to this day if you search on Google or even try to dig a bit more within your IT organisation on ITIL implementation, you will end up finding a ton of literature and varied opinions. Perhaps, one of the days I would want to write an entire article on why ITIL implementations fail, based on my observastions. Till then, you could refer to one of the Gold Standard opinions (as per me) on this topic from Joe the IT Guy’s Blog:

Guy, T. J. I. T. (2016, January 21). 6 Reasons Why You’re Going Wrong With ITIL. Joe The IT Guy. https://www.joetheitguy.com/6-reasons-youre-going-wrong-itil/