When is it time to stop an IT project

IT projects should deliver value to organizations but there are cases when, however well planned a project may have been, changes in the environment and/or in the strategic priorities of the organization mean it can never deliver value. Value is a subjective term and simply means, in this context, something that is important to the organization which would generally result in profit, in a commercial entity, or improved service, in a public entity. This paper addresses the problem of how to ensure that you will have the capabilities in place to know when your project can no longer deliver value and to take appropriate action. It does not discuss in detail the technical issues of project management execution, as a well-executed project can still fail to deliver value. Rather, it looks at the specific question of knowing when projects can no longer deliver value and putting measures in place to both prevent and address project escalation. We show how a capability based approach supported by the IT-CMF framework can improve your ability to quickly identify projects that have started but now can no longer deliver value. This capability approach increases the agility of the organization and makes it easier to develop and maintain competitive advantage.