DeMarco says organizational politics often lead to unreasonable customer expectations, which in turn spawn irreconcilable differences with vendors. If the CEO says a project must be completed within a year, then that expectation is set in stone. The corporate blame game also tends to fuel litigation, says DeMarco. Once a project goes awry, those responsible would rather cover up their poor deal-making than try to fix it. The typical lawsuit can take three, four or five years.
Litigation has the beneficial effect of deferring judgment.
One of the other factors that plays into the surge in IT litigation is the role that CEOs, chief financial officers and other senior business executives play in deal-making with vendors. The vendor claims that outsourcing will drop x cents per share to the bottom line, and the executives start calculating their bonuses. But vendors aren't necessarily the ones at fault. Although Gore didn't specifically complain about PeopleSoft's product, it did contend that PeopleSoft foisted New York-based Deloitte's services on Gore and claimed that the consultancy wasn't up to the task. The lawsuit charged that the software problems interrupted the firm's business operations.