The Key to Success: It’s Not the Tool, It’s the Team
If you get yourself a new Canon EOS 5D Mark III, you can become a professional photographer. If you pick up an Estwing hammer, you can become a master carpenter. Does this make sense? It is like saying that Michelangelo was only a good painter because he had a great brush, or he was a good sculptor because he had a high-quality chisel. We understand this, but why is it that we expect tools to be the answer, end-all, be-all for business? The key to success is not in the tools, it’s in the people. Effective leadership and project management are what create success.
Tools are important; that’s absolutely true. You couldn’t migrate from a legacy system to an updated suite of cloud-based programs without the right tools. You couldn’t upgrade a facility without tools. But if technology could do it all, we wouldn’t have abysmal project failure rates – and IT certainly wouldn’t be the most prone to failures! Most failures are not attributable to lack of, or improper, technology and tools, or even budget constraints. They fail because of old-fashioned human error in the form of weak management.
One of the most successful businesspeople of the 20th Century, Walt Disney, said, “Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating the talents of those who work for us and pointing them towards a certain goal.” The key factors in project success are always based on people and leadership. The Standish CHAOS report consistently ranks the following as key factors in success:
- User involvement
- Executive support
- Clear delineation of goals and objectives
- Experienced project manager
According to this Standish report (dated 1999 but still very much relevant), when user involvement, clear statement of objectives, and executive support are in place, they account for 50 percent of a project’s chance for success. When you add an experienced project manager, it increases to 65 percent. While success is never guaranteed, the ability of people to work together, communicate, adapt, and make decisions towards that certain goal is a huge driver.
The tools are just that; ways to get the job done, but they are only part of the equation. You need skilled, competent, trained, and motivated leaders and teams wielding them.
