It is generally said that large IT projects often miss deadlines and just as often overrun the project’s budget. Does the core issue of this problem lie solely with the IT department? Some may argue that it does, while others do not (there are certainly many factors to consider).
Face it, large IT projects are complex and require significant investment of time from various groups in the organization (business and IT) and support from executive leadership to help recover from the inevitable “scope creep” along the path towards implementation.
Speaking solely from an IT perspective, is there a way to predict a project’s successful outcome based on the functionality of the IT team? Perhaps. Notwithstanding, IT in general continues to evolve at a rapid pace even if you only consider the services from the various cloud vendors, which continue to expand. If that is not enough, then couple those services with AI, agentic AI, RAG, no-code/low-code, machine learning, etc. as well.
For IT teams that are continually addressing operational issues, trying to allocate time to learn and adopt new skills is challenging. Yet, some teams do just that. How? Assessing the maturity level of the IT department may provide some insight. No, this should not be construed negatively – think of it more as an engineering exercise to see if there is room for improvement. Generally, an IT team’s maturity can be characterized within these 5 levels (in increasing effectiveness):
- Struggle/Reactive: The lowest level, where documentation and processes are minimal and problem solving is considered ad-hoc.
- Support/Managed: At this level, some procedures and processes are documented and followed, though possibly not throughout the department.
- Optimized/Standardized: Considered the level where IT teams transition from “Reactive” to “Proactive”. More processes are documented, standardized, and consistently utilized.
- Predictable: At this maturity level, the IT organization can effectively measure its performance to understand where else to improve. It is focused on achieving consistency.
- Optimized/Transformative: The highest level and is where IT is considered a strategic partner with business.
As a team matures, its internal processes become more defined, documented, and continually refined. Its service offerings become more optimized, and it has the experience to overcome obstacles and generally adapt to new technology more easily, especially if it reaches level 4 or above.
But just trying to focus on IT maturity may not guarantee successful outcomes with large projects. Success for any project is a shared responsibility with the business and IT teams. Reviewing the maturity levels above may provide some insight into gauging project success. Internal assessments could provide insight, yet a consultant organization may be a better approach to provide a neutral viewpoint. Large projects with teams functioning at a level 3 or higher generally have greater success, but do not discount your IT team if it is not at that level yet. Support the team’s efforts to evolve, and you should find greater success in the organization’s overall business goals.
Dan Kempton is the Sr. IT Advisor at North Carolina Department of Information Technology. An accomplished IT executive with over 35 years of experience, Dan has worked nearly equally in the private sector, including startups and mid-to-large scale companies, and the public sector. His Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science fuel his curiosity about adopting and incorporating technology to reach business goals. His experience spans various technical areas including system architecture and applications. He has served on multiple technology advisory boards, ANSI committees, and he is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Industrial & Systems Engineering school at NC State University. He reports directly to the CIO for North Carolina, providing technical insight and guidance on how emerging technologies could address the state’s challenges.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.