Canadian Government Executive - Volume 23 - Issue 02

28 / Canadian Government Executive // February 2017 Special Report reliably as Amazon and Netflix. Thus, success stories get almost no publicity, but delays and setbacks are subject to microscopic inspection. Taxpayers have been promised efficiency and account- ability in their dealings with govern- ment, and they have little patience for stories about expensive failure. In a time of such clear expectations, how can so much be going so wrong? To start, let’s be fair. These stories of failure do not properly consider the enormous complexity of any major IT initiative. And, contrary to popular opin- ion, the private sector is every bit as vul- nerable to IT problems as the public sec- tor. For evidence of that, we can look to the Standish Group, the Boston-based consultancy that has been rating the success of public- and private-sector IT projects around the world since the 1990s. Of the 50,000 projects evaluated by Standish, only about 30% came in on time, on budget and with satisfac- tory results. As for the rest, about half ran into difficulty, and nearly 20% were complete flops. Moreover, the greatest likelihood of failure was seen in the most ambitious and complex projects — in other words, in projects like those on the Shared Services “red” list. The government’s struggling proj- ects have been faced with the kinds of challenges that are seldom seen in the private sector. It is no coincidence that the most troubled of these initiatives happen to have been executed under the most daunting circumstances: They were carried out with arbitrary mid- project budget cuts, aging hardware, outdated software and game-changing Getting IT Right From the Start Without a foundation of upgraded skills, government IT initiatives will continue to fail. Today, no organization is im- mune from the effects of the digital revolution. Whether they’re in government or the private sector, today’s lead- ers are expected to be more nimble, innovative and ef- fective than ever. Let Global Knowledge help. Our new ebook, Resilient Leadership , outlines the ways you can protect and grow your career in the midst of constant up- heaval. Download your free copy of Resilient Leadership at globalknowledge.ca/cge. G overnment executives don’t typically crave the spotlight. Their focus is on delivering excellent service. It’s not easy. Almost by definition, government proj- ects are carried out in an environment of significant constraints and risks. Govern- ment executives understand these risks, and they work tirelessly to mitigate them. And so, for these committed profes- sionals, there’s probably no activity more depressing or demoralizing these days than a close reading of the Ottawa Citi- zen. There, in almost every edition, we see a merciless dissection of everything that’s gone wrong with the government’s current IT projects. Last November, the paper listed ten Shared Services initiatives that were classified as “red,” meaning they were either late, over budget or not delivering the promised results. Another 19 were in enough trouble to be described as “yel- low.” And, to make matters worse, the list covered only those projects under Shared Services’ purview, meaning that it didn’t include hugely embarrassing de- bacles like Phoenix Pay. In the era of deliverology, the outrage is not surprising. Today’s citizenry is clam- oring for a government that delivers as Master resilient leadership BY Lawrence Franco President, Global Knowledge Canada complexities that were discovered only after work began (such as the inventory of government data centres, a list that ballooned from 200 to nearly 500 at last count). And that’s not all. In addition to work- ing with challenges that are peculiar to the public sector, every government ini- tiative must also be planned and carried out in the wider world, one that is aptly described by the acronym VUCA: Vola-