Stop now and review your business case if you hear any of the following?

?We will achieve significant benefit by saving everyone two minutes a day?. Be wary of this kind of analysis; will such savings deliver concrete benefits to the business?

?We?re deciding to use package xxx because it is a yy% fit to our business?. Benefits should drive key decisions not pseudo-scientific analyses of fit to an ?ideal? system.

?We?re going with that system because it looks good and/or looks easy to use?. More mature systems often look more complex than newer ones because they have built sophistication over time, sophistication that might be necessary for your business to achieve its objectives. Superficial reviews are rarely useful.

?We?ve eliminated lots of packages because they do not use a particular software or hardware solution?. Benefits need to override technical constraints if those constraints prevent you from considering good solutions. Technical concerns can be important, but are not the most important, especially if they are being used by the project team to save effort or cut corners.

?People will pick it up as they go along?.
Business cases that ignore the need to train and do not take into account user skills are likely to under deliver. To assume that people can adopt new systems or new working practices without support is likely to cause problems during implementation. New IT systems may highlight rather than rectify skills gaps.

?Let?s go ahead with the project, but I?m not convinced?. It might be appropriate to override concerns on occasion, but statements like this are usually a symptom of a project that is about to go badly wrong.

?We?ve identified 76 mandatory requirements?. That?s a symptom of a project that is too focused on function, and insufficiently focused on benefits. So-called mandatory requirements can often cause good solutions to be excluded from consideration unnecessarily.

?Our proposed supplier is really keen for our business?. Good customer service or just desperate? You need to know which.

?We have no choice? or ?It?s the law?. Regulatory environments are often drivers for business change. Whilst compliance with the law is essential it should not be the only reason to implement an IT change project. Achieving compliance should not be a substitute to looking for ways to benefit from IT changes.

?We just need to make a few more changes?. Tinkering with software can be a cause of substantial delay. You need to ask, ?Are those changes necessary to get the benefits we are looking for, or can they wait until later??.

Habits of successful businesses

Back                           Home