Why do you want my Project to Fail!?

For an IT project to succeed in any organisation is not only a matter of technology, timelines, or budget, and not only needs to not only have alignment with the business, but at the heart of any successful IT project lies the required support of business stakeholders. This is even more critical if the project has business outcomes as its success factors. Without this backing, even the “best planned” projects are prone to setbacks, delays, and in the worst-case scenario, failure. This is further exacerbated by a business stakeholder that has no interest in the project succeeding or has an alternate agenda, so how do you recognise this, and more importantly how do you turn things around?

An un-supporting business partner could be the reason your project is failing!

Why Business Stakeholder Support is Critical.

Without business buy-in and support on an IT project, it becomes a proverbial rudderless ship! Stakeholders provide not just resources, but vision, direction, and momentum. They are the bridge between IT and the broader business goals, ensuring that the project aligns with organisational priorities and delivers real value.

Priorities can shift, resources may be redirected, and the project's relevance can be questioned which leads to analysis of “where did we go wrong?”. It's crucial to recognize the signs of diminishing support early to prevent a project from falling into this state.

Signs of Insufficient Business Support

So, how can you tell if your project is losing the support it needs? Here are some key indicators:

1. When key stakeholders frequently miss meetings or send others in their place, it could signal a lack of interest or investment in the project. It might seem like a small issue, but it reflects a larger disengagement.

2. If stakeholders are consistently hard to please, offering criticism without constructive feedback, it might indicate a deeper dissatisfaction with the project's direction or value proposition.

3. When stakeholders start considering other solutions, it's a red flag. This often suggests they are not confident in the current project's ability to meet their needs and are also looking outside the team that is trying to solve the problem at hand.

4. If stakeholders are overly focused on other initiatives, your project may not be seen as a priority, risking its momentum and success.

Turning the Tide

Recognizing the signs of the support declining is the first step; the next is addressing it proactively. Sometimes it's a matter of calling it out early and escalating, but that may actually not be enough. It may be a matter of how to engage with your stakeholder or how to swing their support if you know more about their motivations or what’s important to them and their business.

Here are some ideas of how you can re-engage stakeholders and secure their crucial backing:

• Identify an outcome that is critical to both the business and the project. Make the business owner accountable for this outcome. This not only aligns interests but also ensures stakeholders have a vested interest in the project's success.

• Schedule one-on-one meetings with the relevant stakeholders to discuss the importance of their support. Be transparent about the project's needs and ask for their feedback. Understanding their concerns can help you address them effectively. Be open minded and don’t be confrontational in this conversation. You will often find that it's a matter of being amenable and re-aligning on what is important to the both of you.

• Maintain regular contact with stakeholders through meetings or sessions. This helps build a relationship and keeps the project top-of-mind. Discover what motivates them and find ways to integrate these motivations into the project's framework.

It's important to recognize the signs of disengagement early and take proactive steps to rebuild support. Remember, while technology drives innovation, it is the people behind the technology who truly determine success. So, engage, communicate, and collaborate as your project's success depends on it!

A final comment : what about when IT doesn’t support a business project?

It needs to be said that this is not a one sided article, as the same is true when IT needs to deliver a project to the business that it doesn’t entirely support. Either because it doesn’t align to a strategy, poorly considers IT or its outcomes by making the environment more complex, or various other reasons. This is also very important to consider and we’ll cover this in a future post.