Anonymous

WOKING

Project Rescue Specialist

If you have a brain tumour you don't go to a general practitioner to resolve the situation just because he has a medical degree. You go to a specialist brain surgeon.

If you have a project in failure you don't ask a CIO to deal with it just because he is a CIO - especially as he is a CIO, even if he has run a couple of big projects. You go to a specialist project rescuer who has rescued several projects in the past and who knows how to do this sort of work.

Just because someone is a good project manager doesn't mean they have the slightest clue about how to rescue a project. In almost every other country when a project gets into difficulty they reach for the phone and get a specialist rescuer in to help. In the UK they don't do that and as a result have a 33 per cent project failure record - sure it costs, but you will be wasting time and money if you don't do this anyway.

As I do rescue project and have a string of successful rescues behind me, I do know what I am talking about. And I do know you are not really a CIO if you try to do this rescue on your own. You might as well do all the analysis, programming, testing, procedural change planning - everything - but you don't do you. You get someone who is good at it to do these tasks leaving you to be a CIO.

I wish you success, but I don't think you will make it unless you do retain someone who knows wheat they are doing in these circumstances. Just because you managed a couple of large projects in the past doesn't mean you know what you are doing in this position.

Swallow your pride and get your company to pay the going rate to someone who really knows what they are doing and listen to what they say to you, because if you don't or try to influence to do it your way them you are only compounding the felony.