CIOs Can't Do It Alone: Project Success Through Better Sponsorship

by Payson Hall

No strategically minded CIO's agenda would be complete without the item "Review and improve project management capabilities." It seems that objective has remained near the top of the list for the last 20 years, despite regular attempts to address it through spending on training, methodologies, tools, consultants, and certifications. If you pick up a current trade publication, you will likely find a story of colossal project management failure on the cover and glossy ads for more project management tools throughout. Keeping your organization's failed projects off the cover of Computerworld and InformationWeek -- now that's strategic in both the public and private sectors. But is the secret the latest project management tools, as advertising might suggest?