Sample Essay

The relationship between planning specific to the system as well as the planning functions in project development is very strong. The top five indicators for projects facing challenge unsuccessfully pertain to lack of user input, incomplete requirements and specification which are attained in the product planning phase, the changing of the requirements and system specifications, the lack of executive support, the technical incompetence as well as lack of project planning.

Moreover the improper management of the project at the hand of the project manager also constitutes as one of the main factors leading to project failures. “Whitaker advises that the three most common reasons for project failure are poor project planning, weak business cases, and a lack of top management involvement and support.” (Williams, 2003)

The success of systems and IT based projects is very much dependent on the initial phases of product development which pertain to product planning and assessment. The ratio of successful projects pertaining to systems and software is very low. “In a 1994 Scientific American article titled “Software’s Chronic Crisis”, the author identified that for every six new large-scale software systems that are put into production, two others are canceled. Further, the average software development project overshoots its schedule by half, with larger projects doing worse. Seventy-five percent of all large systems are “operating failures” that either do not function as intended or simply are not used at all.” (Williams, 2003) Research has been carried out on the success of projects and the role of project planning, and one such research is by Gesellschaft für Projektmanagement in association with PA Consulting. “According to this study, 38 percent of those surveyed stated that the most common causes of unsuccessful projects are unclear objectives and unclear requirements.” (‘Good Planning Is Halfway to Success’, 2004)

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