Information Technology Newsletter

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What is the R.K.T.N.?

The "RayAnn Knowledge Transfer Network"

Technology affects and impacts every company/business, on a national and international (global) level. Now even more projects and programs continue to be executed throughout different industries and still a significant number of projects are failing. Although there has been an increase in the success rate, it is not enough based on the amount of money invested in projects and programs. Over 60% of Information Technology/Business projects and programs have failed and more than $50 billion dollars has been wasted in 2004 alone (The Standish Group 2004). These statistics are absolutely inexcusable!

What is the underlying reason behind project/program failure?

Inadequate management (leadership)
Inadequate or incomplete scope (solution process/approach)
Inadequate, incomplete, or the absence of, requirements
No formal change/configuration control process
Inadequate or no quality assurance process (not just testing)
Project managers not understanding, or having experience, as a program manager
The absent of immediate knowledge transfer

What does it mean:
For the past 5 years we have been losing, and the next 5-10 years will be losing, resources (manpower) that are a significant asset to the industry! The lessons learned and Knowledge that these resources are taking with them is significant. As each nation's economy continues to grow, develop, improve and/or gain stability, the knowledge and lessons learned of these individuals will be retired because they, the resource, will be. Also within IT and other industries, for the past few years, there has been an influx of new talent and individuals that aren't qualified or have the necessary experience. How do we educate and train these individuals? Burn out along with project failure is also a major concern. Many project managers are managing too many projects at one time. To be effective a project manager can handle 3-5 projects effectively but when directly (having primary responsibility) managing 8 or more, you have to question how effective management can be applied. Just by the overwhelming failure rate, it's fair to say that the transfer of knowledge and sharing of lessons learned on a large-scale has not taken place on a wide-scale and isn't taking place within the industry!

This is the reason the "RayAnn Knowledge Transfer Network" was developed!
Our most critical concern within the IT and other industries is to address the project/program failure rate and share information to promote successful projects. The mission of the R.K.T.N is to educate, inform, and empower IT professionals and businesses to:

support development
promote successful projects/programs throughout the IT and other industries.
cut costs and keep projects on budget

It is critical that information is transferred/shared on a wide scale and not just within privileged groups or organizations (unless you are a part of, you may not receive or acquire some significant information, knowledge, and lessons learned that leads to successful projects).

The goal of the "RayAnn Knowledge Transfer Network" is to transfer information by:

The "IT Professional Facilitator" - Quarterly Electronic Newsletter
Various Publications - ( Available on Amazon.com and on RayAnn sites)
- Project Management Best Practices Case Study Series I
- A Practical Guide to Understand and Apply Software/Firmware Configuration Management
The IT Network Lounge - Interactive Knowledge Transfer Forums
Technology Blogs/Journals
Seminars/Lectures