Stuart Fawcett

London

IT Manager

Undertaking any particular project is a speculate to accumulate type of action and the investment is much like any other – spend x now to return y later while accepting z risk on this action.

If, with changing market conditions, the projected return actually reduces or the risk increases then it should be subject to review, business is a dynamic environment and an agile business that can respond to the market is always a good thing.

Writing off the cost of an IT project development so far and saving potential future costs is not an easy decision if you were an active sponsor in the 1st place. Your CxO team should all have been involved in any major IT project and should clearly be able to see the full effects of losing the project, if not then it’s the old problem of IT not explaining its value and CxO not understanding the value – maybe this is the cause of the panic.

IT staff, like any another, are fully remunerated every month, but also generally enjoy being involved in projects that require sustained commitment to deliver a solution over time. This professional pride in completing projects and building our CVs is sometimes compromised by market conditions – business does not exist to fund our problem-solving aspirations to completion, that’s just life isn’t it?