Information Technology Projects Restart

Nobody needs to restart a noteworthy IT project. Doing as such brings a wide range of potential outcomes, from item or administration rollout postponements to startling expenses and a decrease in staff resolve. In any case, though, there are times when it's the best decision for advancing. The main thing superior to anything an ideal plan for a project, is an ideal back-up plan. It's a lamentable truth that as savvy and well prepared as our plans seem to be, there's no getting away from that in the end one of our tasks in information technology realm will come up short and flop terrifically to the point that the main feasible arrangement is to restart the project. Whereas it may seem cumbersome to go into this direction, it is imperative that after a proper scrutiny is conducted in the status of the project, restarting should be initiated with a more informed conscience to ensuring that the project succeeds. 

This article delves into the nitty-gritty of the IT project restarts and how IT managers should stay abreast of the approaches to adopt in restarting projects as well as the most amicable procedures of ensuring that there are plausible back-up plans that be relied upon restart.

PREPARING FOR IT PROJECT RESTARTS

A project restart can be a testing procedure that does not have an unmistakable structure for progress. There are surely issues that should be settled yet responsibility and lucidity on future desires can be hard to accomplish. While the project administration team will battle with the subject of, "How would we restart the task?" the inquiry ought to be, "For what reason do we have to restart the project and how would we ensure it will go better?" Only an unmistakable comprehension of the kinds of project disappointment will take into account another arrangement to be executed that will enhance execution (Stoever&Trella, 2000).

Organizations may be compelled to restart a project by various reasons and challenges. One of has to do with poor communication done by the team running the project to the management with regards to the progress of the project. When the reality is found it becomes imperative to relook at the whole project all over again and its dynamics. Also, the team may lack adequate experience that can fully expedite the project to completion or sometimes unable to perform the tasks the work deliverable due to downsizing plan limiting their capacity. 

While each venture has its high points and low points, there are clear procedures for alleviating disappointment. The best way to about the mitigation process that leads to the restarting of an IT project is by following three stages; Inspecting the present qualities and shortcomings of the project, describing the project failures and then identifying methodologies or remedial actions to see to it that the project is restarted well, with the intent of succeeding with it this time (Kontzer, 2011). 

STATISTICS ON PREVALENCE OF NEED FOR PROJECT RESTARTS

In 1995, it the Chaos Report noted poor performance of projects in IT to the extent that 31.1 % of projects were terminated before they could reach completion; 52.7 % of projects undertaken would end up costing about 189% of the cost estimates originally made and only 16.2% of software projects would be wound up in good time and within the budget allocated. This was an indication of the role project managers hold in ensuring that these statistics improve (Peterson & Hennessy, 2012). 

While troublesome and once in a while unimaginable, it is basic for an IT anticipate chief to distinguish and get ready for circumstances in which a task might be restarted. Adequately suspending a task for later restart significantly affects the achievement of the restart exertion. There are a few key markers that an IT anticipate supervisor can use to decide whether an undertaking will be restarted. These reasons are; strategic intent where the project is to serve long term goal achievement; competitive pressures for example with the revolution of the internet and its use, redefining the traditional brick and mortar way of undertaking IT projects and the technical influences that encompass the technical issues that compel for the restart of the project (Kontzer, 2011). 

STEPS LEADING TO IT PROJECT RESTART 

Essentially, an IT project will often follow three stages to its restarting point including; project initiation, the suspension point and then the restart point. In the initiation stage of the IT manager is to ensure that the effectiveness of the IT project is optimally fulfilled since it will highly determine the eventual outcome of the project (Stoever&Trella, 2000). It will encompass cautious risk planning and ensuring that minimum requirements are met for instance the integration management, cost management and ensuring that the team members pursuing the project have the skills that it takes to accomplish the project. With regard to integration management, the management might want to consider the change requests that are likely to be still valid in restarting the project. Further, the management will want to be keen in refining the cost details so that especially the estimator of performing the work and budget projections for plausibility.  

With regard to the suspension point, expenses and economic reasons are the pre-requisites. It is a period of reflection and coming into consensus and documentation of the reasons for the project suspension, establish the quality checks to undertake before and after the project restart and then finally make sure that configuration administration process is being executed, particularly for plans, programming libraries, source code and executables. By bundling the project environment for later reuse, the restart group can expand upon a solid stage (Stoever&Trella, 2000). A restarted task under tight due dates can sick bear to bring about pointless costs related with revamp because of executing an undertaking with the wrong forms of programming, particularly source code.

Finally, at the restart point, the essentials that ensure its success are reviewing the project plan, and the expected project management outputs, time management with respect to delivery timing and the quality management. On the same note, risk management comes in handy to take into consideration since similar reasons and factors which led to the suspension of the project may still be in existence. 

This diagrammatical representation shows the process from start to the end:                                    

MONITORING AND CONTROL MEASURES FOR THE RESTARTED PROJECTS

The restarting of an IT projectbrings with a renewed determination to succeed and doing it much better than previous times. As such, new measures should be put in place to ensure that happens, for instance, paying attention to time management, ensuring constant communication to the supervising management, risk mitigation measures and ensuring the quality of the work being done is above standards, to all intends and purposes (Kontzer, 2011). Lastly, the managers of the project would want to ensure the human resources of the project is up to the task and well-equipped to deliver on the task with heightened surety this time round. 

CONCLUSION

By understanding the potential reasons for a project restart an undertaking administrator can make proper moves to accurately suspend a venture and position the venture for restart. At the restart point, a venture director can play out an informed audit of the suspended task's arrangement from the restart viewpoint to guarantee the arrangement will successfully manage venture execution and control. With this consciousness, project managers are compelled to refine their undertaking administration instruments and systems and spotlight on a protection strategy for project administration.

With a decision to restart an IT project, there has to be concerted effort to ensure that it does not take a similar route as the forfeited one in the past. As such, the management of the project should be approached with a more cautious angle, taking into consideration the areas that might have failed the previous pursuit. Conclusively, segments like risk management, time management, costs management, human resource capacity, quality management and integration management, dine well, will safeguard a successful project upon restart. 

Author: Asma Talal Hamdan, student LIGS University

David A. Peterson, J. H. (2012). Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/software Interface. Burlington: Elsvier/ Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.

Stoever, K. &Trella, H. (2000). Managing IT project restarts. Paper presented at Project Management Institute Annual Seminars & Symposium, Houston, TX. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.

Kontzer, T. (2011, May 11). Oracle. Retrieved from Oracle.com: http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/profit/features/040611-restart-355459.html