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Track 2000
The operation was a success but the patient died
This well-worn medical joke has a rather serious implication within the project world. As discussed by Thomsett [1995], traditional project management focussed on the development component of the project life cycle. As shown in Figure 4, contemporary project management adopts a whole of life perspective.
Fig 4. Tracking perspective
In traditional project management, as the project progressed through Feasibility Study to Implementation, recording of costs, duration and effort and reporting of these process metrics was common. However, after Post Implementation Review, tracking and reporting mechanisms were stopped as the project was finished.
Few organisations tracked either the support costs or the benefits. The absence of on-going measurement in the production cycle has left many business people with little hard evidence of the value added through new products or information systems. It has also enforced the view that many executives have of I.T. and other project groups as cost centres.
Moreover, the focus on development effort, cost and duration often resulted in the compromise of long-term project success [see later] with short-term cost and duration or deadline control. For example, the tracking of development progress reveals that the project is behind schedule and over cost. To get the project back into schedule and to reduce the cost-blowout, the project manager and team consciously degrade quality and de-scope the project's requirements by cutting back on testing and documentation and by dropping out what is perceived to be non-essential functionality.
The project is now on schedule and in budget and potential long-term benefits and support costs have been compromised.
The project tracking reports show that the project in now in budget and on schedule. In reality, the project is back on track for failure.
The key to effective project tracking is that we should be tracking whether the project is going to be successful not just is it on time and in budget.