Why this blog? Why now? Why YOU?

“IT Projects: Expert Witness, CIO, In-House Counsel & Litigation Forum

... engaging IT best practices, turning around IT projects, & understanding IT litigation issues” http://blog.wsrcg.com

Despite great changes and/or advances during the last 20 years in the shape of the world (it’s flat again), science, medicine, publishing, distribution, communications, the price of gasoline, the world-wide web and 9/11, two related areas of technology have failed to keep pace: IT system project success and the IT Law that supports it.

Did you know that:

1. The success rate for software development/implementation projects has not exceeded 35% (per the Standish Group’s “Chaos Reports”) during that period?

2. Scrapped software projects accounted for $55 billion in the USA – just a few years ago (per the National Institute of Science & Technology)?

3. The promised cost, schedule and functionality benefits from outsourcing IT have not been realized in 50% of the North American & European companies that use it?

4. Lawsuits between many large software companies, their Fortune 500 customers, and the giant IT consulting/systems integrator firms have grown from virtually nothing into a steady stream of specialized litigation?

Is there nothing we have learned during the past 20 years to improve the odds of a successful implementation that meets functional, quality, cost & schedule requirements and ROI, tolerable risk levels & stakeholder expectations? 

There sure is! And I’m hoping this blog will become a forum for IT: attorneys and litigators, executives, professionals, and educators to post IT lessons learned, and practical, implementable recommendations and strategies to benefit others. This is intended to be a blog/forum about IT and IT law now – not the future! We are striving for ongoing, creative and substantive ideas and dialogue, allowing each of us to do a better job and have a more rewarding career in our respective areas of expertise.

Topics will present alternative best practices in many of the business, technical and legal aspects regarding IT management, planning/alignment, budgeting, development, implementation and maintenance. It will uncover some of the secrets for successfully: selecting software and software vendors; implementing ERP systems and integrating enterprise applications; valuing high tech assets; and using IT expert witnesses. And it is my plan to have legal colleagues share: best legal practices for IT contracts; strategies, approaches & lessons learned re litigating/resolving IT disputes; analysis of important IT legal matters & judgments.

I kicked the blog off with several postings to get us started. I would sure love to hear from you – especially as responses to the postings or ideas you may have. Visit us at: http://blog.wsrcg.com

Warren S. Reid 2008-04-14

Comments

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[Sharon]

I was incredibly happy to read this blog. Very important.

[Ken Richard]

Having litigated over 250 failed implementations, while there is always fault to go around, there has been a common theme in my experience: Management failing to manage stakeholders during the process. Mr. Reid, thanks for a great and informative site! In my opinion, there needs to be a defined "prime mover" in the organization - rather than piecemeal PMm which is usually the case!

[Steve Krantz]

As a now retired IT executive, as a leader of many IT projects over decades, I can reflect readily on my successes and failures. My failures occurred when I didn't check and recheck my work and the work of others; when I didn't incrementally develop, test and release a product; and when I didn't seek the best possible sounding boards at early stages.

In a word, I believe that many IT professionals are impetuous. When you are impetuous, you are sloppy and likely to overlook crucial errors that lead to failure.

Phrases such as "due diligence" and "completed staff work" come to mind. When I finally learned how NOT to fail, I always did that extra review (and re-review and re-review) BEFORE releasing a memo, a spec or some code. It's the blocking and tackling, the code reviews, the spec reviews that come hard, but they make the difference in the end.

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[Tom Duffy]

For the past 3 years I have managed the I/T Audit & Sox function for an Orange County based mortgage lender. I/T at this company was appropriately described by many of the items in your blog. I finally gave up trying to teach them, and just reported what I saw.