Project management control problems

Even well developed and well organized projects will fail if the project's manager neglects controlling all of the project's elements throughout its life cycle. This article examines the problems that occur when project managers fail to control information systems and fail to understand and manage the impact of this failure. In doing so, it lists four concepts that project managers often ignore when developing information systems and discusses these concepts in relation to aerospace and electronics projects for the United States Department of Defense (DOD). It then describes the criteria used by the DOD for its cost and schedule control systems and details the four problems that most commonly suggest when DOD projects are failing. It concludes by identifying the single source causing these four problems and the three factors affecting the use of information systems.