The main issue, according to most experts, is the lack of project management. No construction or engineering project would ever go forward without project management, yet it's only recently that IT departments have started to use this essential tool for building large-scale systems. As a result, technical skills prevailed over management skills at a time when information systems were becoming more complex. While the private sector quickly latched on to the idea that big computer projects required skilled managers who had the discipline to control system requirements and user expectations, the public sector has continued to ignore the importance of project management. This ignorance has come back to haunt the public sector, especially states, which have to build some of the largest computer systems found anywhere in the country.
Project management is hard work to do.
You have to make decisions, say no to some people and tell others to get in line. Technical heroes had the role of project manager thrust upon them by their bosses, who mistakenly believed that someone who knew how the technology worked would know how to make a technology project work. Without these and other skills, the technical hero, suddenly promoted to IT project manager, can't control the outcome. The difference between successful and failed project- management is the ability to manage risk rather than a crisis. Start with a set of objectives to which everybody agrees.