Scoring lines in the cement

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Michael Krigsman writes a great blog about the issues surrounding IT Project Failures. I was thinking today about how IT always seems to have its reputation dragged through the dirt by the rest of the business when it comes to implementing projects.

There are always the perennial problems of going over budget, completion dates overrunning, teething problems with new systems and how the solutions deployed don’t actually fit with what the business actually wanted to see.

This started me thinking about other professions which exhibit similar traits. One which immediately sprung to mind was the house-building trade, and my experience when buying a new house...

I’ve never been blessed with the patience and skill to perform DIY, and although I can see the fascination with power-tools, I can admit to having hands more suited to a keyboard. For this reason I decided I’d buy a new build house rather than fix-up an older property.

It was only when I moved into my new house (four months after the original entry date) I discovered my naivety and the process of “snagging”. For those not accustomed with the practice, snagging is going through everything with a fine tooth comb and building up lists of problems for the builder to come back and fix.

And there were lots of problems. Faulty wiring, plumbing problems, leaking windows, warped doors. There was even a place on roof-line where the builder had run out of bricks and filled the remaining space with cement. Admittedly they’d been kind enough to score lines in the cement so it looked like bricks, but this artistic solution would have to be replaced.

The kitchen work surfaces were not the ones I had originally specified, and had to be replaced. Twice, actually, because the first replacement was incorrectly fitted. Then there was the garden landscaping, and don’t get me started on the lack of documentation handed over with the house.

The cost to the builders of doing all the remedial work was not insubstantial, and took months to complete.

I’m sure this was, in part, due to the fact that the original team had moved onto another building project and left some poor support workers to manage the ongoing day to day maintenance activities without a proper hand over and the full level of resource that the original project team was blessed with.

Over budget, over-run completion dates, teething problems, solutions out-with expectations, poor project handover with insufficient documentation.

Sound familiar?




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