The decision makers are IT illiterate.
I've worked on several government transition projects, ranging from Job Centres, through CSA to Defence. The one common thread in all of this was that there was no real requirements analysis. What was the final target? What was needed? How was it going to be achieved? and maybe most importantly of all, How is it being done now and what do you need to change?
Then once the project starts, there's the "It would be a good idea if..." and "can we have this...". Major changes to the project without it being re-planned. By the time you're nearing the end, the project looks nothing like the plan at the start.
Then they wonder why it's failed or why it's over budget.
No one who was planning, dictating the requirements or making any major decisions had the foggiest of how their staff, the people using the systems, worked or what they really needed.
The result? A system which sort of does what was asked, but not necessarily what was needed and most probably a bastardisation of what was designed in the first place.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
