Establishing the relationship between IT project management maturity and IT project success in a South African context

Abstract

Good project management is often considered the make or break of many an IT project. As a discipline,project management has grown significantly, with standards, methodologies, international best practice and bodies of knowledge abound. Despite this, project failures are still prevalent. In the USA, according to the CHAOS report, only one in three IT projects succeed. While the CHAOS Chronicles represents the state of IT projects in the USA, there are no comparable statistics for South Africa. The goal of this paper is to provide the results from an empirical research survey done in South Africa. The results show the current success and failure rates as well as the reasons for these. IT projects in South Africa are unique and face different challenges than our USA and European counterparts. A survey was undertaken to investigate the state of IT projects in South Africa, allowing comparisons to be made between the South African IT industry and IT Project Management in particular, and that of the USA. The survey combined the nine knowledge areas of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) with a Project Management Maturity Model (PMMM), in order to answer the following questions: 1. How mature is IT Project Management in South Africa? 2. What is the success rate of IT projects in South Africa? 3. What is the relationship between IT Project Management Maturity and project success? 4. How does South Africa compare with the rest of the world? 5. Are there any shortcomings in IT Project Management in South Africa? 6. How can we address these problem areas? Based on the results, three key areas are highlighted that need special attention and suggestions are made on how to improve each. This knowledge, if harnessed, can have a positive effect on the chances of project success.