I.T. Project Success: Practical Frameworks based on key Project Control Variables
This provides practical guidance for IT project managers in the Telecom industry, but it is incremental as it builds on existing theories like the iron triangle.
The study investigated interdependencies among six IT project control variables (Cost, Time, Scope, Quality, Risk, Benefits) and developed frameworks to help managers control them for project success, finding that varying one variable affects others positively or negatively, similar to the iron triangle theory.
The objectives of this study were to research into the interdependencies IT project control variables, and also come out with frameworks to help IT project managers understand how to effectively control these variables to ensure the success of IT projects. The study employed six control variables: Cost, Time (Schedule), Scope, Quality, Risk, and Benefits. A qualitative approach was adopted, where selected IT program and project managers of the Telecom industry in Ghana were interviewed individually and in a group based on a set of questions. The findings, espoused in the frameworks, reiterated the theory of the dependence of one control variable on the other, and the fact that varying one affects the others positively or negatively in relation to IT project success, as is the case for the iron triangle. Again, key activities of the control variables necessary to ensure IT project success were discovered.