Top 3 IT Development and Project Best Practices

1. Always take time to understand the purpose and mission of the organization and how this IT project supports the mission.  Don't assume that the goals of an IT project have the best interests of the mission in mind.  Don't lose sight of the overwhelming business reason(s) for developing any IT system.  Define what success will look like from the beginning and do not let anyone lose sight of the project's mission.  The best investment you can make in a project is at this stage.

2.  Take the time to understand who the various users of the system are and talk to them about what their key needs and goals are.  Make the time to ensure you have spoken to all the key user groups and stakeholders.  Keep the key users involved from start to finish and communicate with them relentlessly.  It is amazing how many projects are well underway and the system's users are barely involved.  Every hour invested communicating with the key system users will be returned one hundredfold down the road, and this is conservative!

3.  Take the time to understand what the achievable goals and requirements of the system (or project) are.  Pay careful attention to what is achievable according to the organization’s resources.  Don't embark on a project that is not sustainable all the way through roll-out and realization of payback.  It makes no sense to embark upon a project that accomplishes 10 things but the organization only has resources to properly support 5 of these capabilities.  

"The only way to ensure that these 3 best practices are followed is by hard work and careful attention by a devoted and talented team, but in the end this focus will be your surest guarantee for success!"

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