One of our IT senior directors reminded our team: « You know, when internal IT projects fail in our company, it’s very often because of the fundamentals ». This echoes an article recently published by Ty Kiisel and entitled « Don’t Forget the Fundamentals of Project-Based Work ».

It is very true that as we become experts in our discipline, we focus on its complex and sophisticated aspects. We look at advanced metrics and measures, calculations, processes… However we must keep in mind the fact that there are some basics, some fundamentals which will kill our project if we loose sight of them.

Amongst these, Ty mentions:

• Clearly defined business objective that is well understood by all.
• Active executive commitment.
• Shared determination to complete the project.

I would suggest that we add:

• A clear and simple project governance
• Sound business requirements
• Clarity on scope and mastering change management

While managing the fundamentals may not sound very exciting, it often is what makes the difference between projects and project managers who are successful and others who aren’t.