IT projects are crucial to economic growth. Half of all capital investment today is in information and communication technologies. This investment creates value through the projects that put the technology to work for practical purposes. This growing investment over many years has transformed many aspects of work and society. IT systems and tools are so pervasive that we can scarcely imagine life without them. The importance of IT projects therefore cannot be overestimated.

By contrast to their importance, IT projects have an unfortunate reputation among the public at large for performance. Personal experiences – of the “I’m sorry I can’t help you, the computer’s down” variety – have been exacerbated by sensationalist journalism based on some very large and expensive failures. The US-based Standish Group’s 1995 CHAOS Report reinforced the view that project performance deficit is widespread, cost and schedule overruns high, and scope delivered low.