Shutting down IT projects
The article “Pulling Plug on IT Projects” explains readers about the meticulous procedure of how an IT project should be shut down whether it is laid down once and for all. The author, Bruce F. Webster categorizes IT projects that are being shut down into three different types. Firstly, projects that are being suspended for a reasonably short period of time, but then quickly resumed or restarted. The second category projects are one that might be revived at some future date. The last one being projects that are really dead.
The author takes Project X as an example to explain how this project should be shut down in an appropriate manner. Before shutting down a project it is very crucial that we create an environmental impact statement, in particular this is a document that explains the reasons and consequences of shutting the project down. The article deals with several important impacts of shutting down a project. Loss of possible business advantage should be clearly documented. The interruption or death of a project is likely to affect the profit that it brings in the existing line of system. If Project X is intended to enhance or support an existing system than its shut down will have an impact on the existing system. That implies that the working system has to run for an indefinite amount of time with some additional expenditure. Also, the existing system has to deal with end-of-life technologies.
The next essential step is to capture the lessons learned while carrying out Project X; here the lessons mean both good and bad. To accomplish this author states several questions that will help to capture the factors that lead to shut down of the project. “What worked well? What could we have done better? What caused problems for this project?” (Webster, F. B., 2009). The answers to these questions will help developers or project managers to work better when the project is revived. Reusing intellectual property is good with projects that are suspended for a brief time. Project artifacts or deliverables must be preserved, this will be helpful for projects that are likely to be resumed or revived. Last but not the least, personnel working on Project X should be reassigned with another project unless trying to cut down on personnel expenditure.
On the whole the article briefly explains the impacts of shutting down a project and how a project manager can minimize these impacts.
References:
Webster, F. B. (2009, September). Pulling the plug on IT projects. Baseline. Retrieved from http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Project-Management/Pulling-the-Plug-on-IT-Projects/