The rush to finish a project is often inversely proportional to the ROI obtained from it.
A few years ago, Lincoln Financial Group completed a project that was originally given the green light based on its ability to reduce head count within a particular department. The project, which resulted in customer service improvements and other benefits, was deemed a success — that is, until Jason Glazier, chief technology officer at the firm, made an important discovery: No one had ever executed the layoffs.
Oversights like this highlight a major flaw in how projects are managed at many companies, Glazier says: the tendency to neglect important steps at the project’s close that can make or break your ability to achieve a full return on investment. While lots of IT and business groups are all over ROI at a project’s inception, it all too often slips off the radar as the project is winding down.
Read more at:
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/project/story/0,10801,107704,00.html