“Highlight at least 3 important reasons why you think IT

projects fail and what you can do to ensure that your

own projects are successful.

Has the MYKI project been a success or failure?

Explain your answer.

Many people can feel an IT project is destined to failure before it is officially announced. The
reasons of this failure include Poor planning, Failure to communicate and act as a team and
Unrealistic time or resource goals. A good example of a failed IT project is Myki.

Myki is a smartcard ticketing system designed and created by Kamco and issued by
the Victorian Government for its public transport system. Myki would act in a similar fashion
to that of a Prepaid mobile phone or internet card, with users requiring to initially purchase a
card but would then only have to ‘top up their card’ when user travels on all types of
Victorian public transport. Myki cost the Victorian government $1.3b, is over two years late
and has been tainted by many bugs and faults, such as passengers not being charged at all
while others are charged too much. But why did Myki fail? Myki failed because of unrealistic
recourse goals and poor planning. The goal was to create a fully integrated public transport
system but aspects of Myki are poorly planned and impractical. For example users must
‘touch on’ and ‘touch off’ when passenger enter and exit trams. As Public Transport Users
Association President Daniel Bowen says in the Herald Sun “Trans are slow enough as it is...
There have been concerns touching off will cause delays at the busy trams stops...
Melbournians take almost 434 000 tram stops every day”1. Although touching off will make
it easier for the Myki system to identify the cheapest fare to select for commuters by its
‘Myki Money Best Fare’ system which “Each time you touch on and touch off, Myki
recognises the day, time and zone you're in”2), this is not practical during busy peak hour
with many people waiting to ‘touch off’ before disembarking. This is inefficient due to poor
planning and has contributed to the failure that is Myki thus far.

Poor Planning contributed to Myki’s current failure but this is not an isolated incident.
Poor planning can arise from an IT firm being under heavy time constraints and therefore
seeing planning as an unconstructive waste of precious little time. Mark Twain said “The
Secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your
complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable ones, then starting on the first one.’’3
and this is what planning achieves. Planning increases the productivity of all members
involved in an IT project and ensures all members remain on task. Although detailed plans
are very time consuming and not necessary, a simple plan of the long-term, medium-term and
short-term goals that need to be achieved is very beneficial in achieving these goals. By
planning, specific tasks can be assigned to members of the group based on their individual
strengths and weaknesses. This would be extremely advantageous to our group in IT, this
would reduce overlap, increase time management and increase morale as everyone is doing
what they are good at and therefore what they enjoy.

As well as poor planning failing to communicate can be a major factor in the collapse
of IT projects. “In many IT projects, there is no one person who has an overview of the whole
project”4. Having one person to oversee an IT project is necessary as it can ensure that
individuals or small groups that are working on short-term tasks communicate with each
other. Having good communication between small groups or individuals working on short-
term tasks is crucial as it guarantees that each short-term tasks can mesh together, and to
solve the eventual long-term task. I can improve my communication with the members of my
group in projects to reduce overlap of tasks and to make sure the work I am doing relates
back to the main long-tem goal.

Like poor planning or failing to communicate ‘unrealistic time or resource goals’ is an

internal pressure that can ruin IT projects. Project managers can assume that each task will
take an even amount of time, which of course is not the case as certain areas may run into
more issues and problems. Group members also allow very little if any time for unexpected
problems and difficulties; this can lead to a crisis with a deadline rapidly approaching and
each task taking more time than planned. Also many IT projects have been budgeted with a
linear level of production expected for both resource and time efficiently, eg “ Linear
thinking would support the conclusion that increasing the people by 100 percent would
decrease the schedule and increase the cost to approximately the same degree. In reality,
doubling the staff produces a non-linear result5”. This applies to big businesses creating
massive cost blowouts, and to small groups creating an unexpected workload.

With no plan, unrealistic time or resource goals and a failure to communicate an IT

system is destined to fail, small or large. The Myki IT system has been a failure thus far due
to poor, impractical planning. I must spend adequate time planning IT projects and breaking
them down into short-term tasks to ensure I do not get lost in the scale of the long-term task.
As a group member I must ensure that do not set unrealistic goals and that I actively
communicate with other group members.

Macaulay Jones

Reference List

1, Herald Sun, May 16 2010, Page 15, “Myki swipe wiped”, James Campbell

2, http://www.myki.com.au/About-myki/default.aspx, About Myki

3, http://www.articlealley.com/article_32151_36.html, Why is Planning Important?

4, http://www.projectperfect.com.au/info_it_projects_fail.php, Why IT projects

fail?
5, http://www.projectperfect.com.au/info_it_projects_fail.php, Why IT projects
fail?