The course of true love never did run smooth

Following are some of the suggested guidelines for the IT Projects:

• Decisions should not be made solely by a centralized administration, as they do not possess in-depth knowledge of organizational processes.

• The system specifications should exactly meet the business requirements. And the technology solution should also meet the system specifications.

• Do not replace humans with IT, use IT to assist them. The professional employees should be motivated and encouraged to participate and they should not feel that they will lose jobs due to IT.

• New, unproven technologies must be avoided.

• User involvement is not only a prerequisite for decisions concerning the prioritizing of requirements and the allocation of resources; it is also required for decisions concerning design.

• Hire the necessary expertise instead of learning everything yourself or asking the staff who is already engaged in other tasks.

• Issues concerning integration of devices and potential disturbance to the environment deserve careful consideration and should be a part of the design effort.

• Try to decompose project into smaller parts. Decomposition reduces the risks, as most of the problems get more localized and easy to handle. It makes the project more understandable for the non-technical members in the team.

• The process of standardization is extremely important for the design of systems. Not only the local processes but Interdepartmental processes and cooperation should also be standardized.

• Logic is important consideration but do consider the emotions of staff as well. Most projects come into socio-technical category so do not ignore the social perspective. Heal, console, encourage and listen to your team members

• Avoid duplication of effort by more than one department. Work should be performed where it makes the most sense.

• Extra checks, double-checks, and controls should be reduced. Keep them in a decent limit, this way everyone feels free while participating into the projects.

• Try to maintain a smooth communication, throughout the process, for everyone involved in IS development i.e. in-house staff, consultants, vendors etc.

• Enable sharing of information among departments, with appropriate security and access and within the limits of existing legislation.

• Do consider the previous experiences of similar types of projects. Learn from the failures that happened in the similar situation. This is necessary to broaden the view and avoid the same risks happening again.

• Be honest yourself and try to make the team works with honesty as well. Honesty is the key policy to make the projects successful.