McKinsey touches on four important ways to improve project performance. They completed surveys to determine these four "broad dimension" to create "value assurance". The strategies involve focus, technology, teams, and core project-management practices. The section on technology discusses employing one or two high-performing experts to raise performance by 100% across teams by focusing not on data but on the correct data. Scope creep and missed milestones can take a project down single-handedly. McKinsey goes on to report that utilizing data with lean and quality methods can simplify and re-scope impossible projects.
"Large IT efforts often cost much more than planned; some can put the whole organization in jeopardy. The companies that defy these odds are the ones that master key dimensions that align IT and business value. Half of all large IT projects—defined as those with initial price tags exceeding $15 million—massively blow their budgets. On average, large IT projects run 45 percent over budget and 7 percent over time, while delivering 56 percent less value than predicted. "
