Harvard Business Review

Good news! Your project was approved.

Even better! Your funding was cut!

When it comes to IT project funding, less is often more.

Too much money results in lengthy, bloated projects. While, overall, only 1/3 of IT-enabled business initiatives deliver as planned, project success declines dramatically as project size increases.

Of course, big dollars are required to fix big problems. But the way to solve a big problem is to make it a series of small problems..

Smart companies break up big projects into stages, with each stage delivering value within a 3-6 month time frame. By using time as an input, rather than an output, teams are forced to focus on what's practical rather than what's possible. They're forced to target current needs and leverage existing knowledge about business processes, information and technologies.

Contrast this with the more typical "boil the ocean" approach. In the futile attempt to define the long-term solution to big problems, teams mill around smartly, trying to know the unknowable, drafting requirements, and evaluating technology options for architectures that don't yet exist.In the process, time and money is wasted producing paper rather than performing experiments.

If the U.S. pioneers used this approach, most of the U.S. population would still be living in and around Boston.

Given that only about 20% of applications functionality is typically used (and which 20% is unpredictable), it's impossible to figure it all out in advance. The key to bringing the future forward is getting tools in the hands of the users as quickly as possible. If they use them, you are on the right track. If they don't, find out why and give it another go.

This stumbling and bumbling, learn-by-doing approach may seem a little chaotic, but it's reflective of how organizations, and people, change and grow. Mistakes will be made, but it's better to make a series of small mistakes and mid-course corrections, than it is to make one huge, multi-million dollar mistake from which there is no way to recover.

There is a downside to fast-cycle delivery. It's harder to deliver the right thing fast than it is to deliver the wrong thing slow. In order to get the most from limiting funding, ensure the following is in place:

• Executive leadership: Don't confuse sponsorship with leadership. Sponsors show up at steering committee meetings when invited, leaders demonstrate passion and commitment by showing up in cubicles and conference rooms uninvited
• Clear definition of success: Use process measurements that impact financial performance and baseline them at the start of the project
• Predefined kill switch: Take the emotion out of the decision making process by defining what defines failure, so that the project can fail fast and be restarted when conditions are more favorable
• Small, experienced team: Wait to start your project until you have a seasoned project manager supported by a small team (less than 12) of full time, subject matter experts
• Laser sharp focus on critical requirements: Avoid defining requirements by committee by using the success measurements to manage scope
• Respect for the future and the past: Factor in the implications of existing business and technology plans while accelerating progress by leveraging legacy systems and existing infrastructure

Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, "You know you've achieved perfection in design, not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away." Challenge your organization to make more out of less by committing to faster, more disciplined delivery.

To learn more, check out this informative, and enjoyable, article outlining the lessons learned from the biggest technical disasters.

And while you're at it, in the spirit of Halloween, take a moment to share some of your own technology horror stories.

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