It may seem odd this is posted under the business category and not the technology category, but bear with me. This is a post on delivering IT projects on time and it belongs under business. Many people would scoff at that, but that is the first step to failure in delivering your project late.

Late projects are the bane of the IT industry. According to this report IT projects are almost always late. What can you do to prevent your IT projects from being late?

Delivering IT projects on time is key to your success as an IT manager. Whether you're in software development, IT support or any mix of classes, your success is defined by three key points:

1. How do you benefit the business? - Your contribution needs to impact the business' bottom line whether that be selling more widgets or creating more products. You need to have a quantifiable result.
2. Can you get the most of your team? - It's not only management, but motivation. Your team needs to be excelling rather than performing. There is a huge difference between a IT team that performs and one that excels.
3. Does your project take advantage of your company? - Most times IT managers are insular in thinking about the technology only. The rare, excellent IT manager thinks about the rest of the company as well.

Delivering an IT project on time affects all three of these points and can make or break your IT management career.

The keys to successfully delivering an IT project include:

• Are you customer focused? - It starts and ends with your customer. Corporate IT support teams have internal customers on the floor they support. Many teams make the mistake of thinking they support the technology. They don't. They support the tools their customers use to do their jobs.
• Do you understand the project? - Many times IT projects are begun with a vague idea of the goals. Nothing is worse than starting a project and realizing halfway through that the goal is more indepth. A good functional specification makes sure this doesn't happen.
• Have you completed a project plan? - Project plan? I can hear you snoring now. YES! Many IT managers assume the project plan is a static document; once it's created it stays there. Nothing could be further from the truth. The project plan is a living document that is honed and worked as the project emerges.
• Have you included a testing component? - Testing is critical. Testing is critical. Do it twice. Testing not only shows you results, but it allows your customers an opportunity to be part of the process. Additionally, it allows you to make changes before the end date.
• What skills does your team lack? - Almost every IT manager thinks their teams are well balanced. Most aren't. Before you start at a project look at the functional specification and decided if your team has the necessary skills to handle it. If they don't you'll need to either find someone that does or begin on the job training.
• Do you have your customer's support? - Customers will demand projects and it's your job to make sure that they get behind you. This can be accomplished by asking them to help with the implementation and testing phases. Remember, the more involvement the more ownership they will feel.
• Are you communicating the status? - Communication of your current status is critical to delivering an IT project on time. Sometimes IT managers think they don't need to let their customers know where the project stands. Big mistake. If you control the status you control the information. Remember, perception is everything and the perception of how a project is going starts with the status. When I do a project I always include a display of tasks completed versus tasks remaining. This is a quick way to show how far along you've progressed.

In my years of managing IT projects those seven keys have ensured the IT projects I've managed have been on time.

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