Keeping projects on the right track with launch management

2008

Large projects capsize relatively frequently. A large project is more than just a project that takes longer, involves more people or consumes more budget.

People managing large projects have to master complexities that normally arise in larger enterprises and company groups only. Once a project reaches a certain size, it is no longer simply about achieving a defined goal as efficiently as possible within a given framework. Large projects often have various stakeholders with various different agendas, and the projects are generally of great strategic importance for all of them. The complex realities thus inevitably lead to complex risks that can never be totally controlled.

The project owners always have to keep this fact in mind, as well as the interdependencies and special features that are typical of such projects.

But what is it about large IT projects that causes them to go askew so often? What are their critical success factors? What can be done before and during the project to prevent the often enormous financial and image-related losses from occurring? This study answers these questions.