Nearly seventy-five percent of all Information Technology (IT)
             projects fail. Computerworld and other research typically identify reasons
             for failure as miscommunication, hazy goals, scope creep, inept leadership,
             and poor project management. However, the extraordinary rate of setbacks
             is also attributable to other fundamental differences that exist between IT
             and non-IT projects. Beginning with project justification and continuing
             through planning, staffing, implementation and quality assurance, IT
             projects face additional challenges and issues than do non-IT projects.
             Project justification can be a far more burdensome task for IT
             projects than for non-IT projects that can more easily assimilate internal
             rate of return, discounted cash flow and payback to assist if the
             investment will deliver a positive return on investment. Many IT projects
             are investments in infrastructure to support existing and future
             applications and are very difficult to asses from a return on investment
             perspective. Some IT projects are undertaken to increase the company's
             insights and knowledge and the actual return on investment isn't known
             until after the project is complete. Given lack of economic justification,
             IT projects often do not receive the same level of endorsement and
             enthusiasm from senior-level managers that non-IT projects with forecasted
             positive return on investments receive (What CEOs think, technology outlook
             for 2003). Lack of executive sponsorship, in turn, increases the chances
             The planning process for IT projects is very different from most
             other non-IT projects (Wearden, 2003). The IT planning process typically
             includes of a committee of individuals from IT, business units, purchasing,
             operations, and perhaps external vendors and consultants. This means that
             functional specifications can be slo...