It has been said that almost 80% of all IT projects go over schedule and budget. That’s huge. And since I build web software for a living, I’ve had my share of mistakes. But fortunately, I learned early on that superior project management can significantly curtail delays and rising costs thus increasing the chances of a client leaving happy.

Over the past two years, Griffio has completed 92% of its projects on time and 84% under budget. I’m very proud of that result and hope the trend continues as I learn knew ways of speeding up the development process through better communication. So why do most IT projects fail? Information Week writes: “Technology projects very seldom fail for technology reasons. By far the highest percentage of failures results from human communication issues.”

In short, good project management is a must. And good project management is all about managing both client and developer expectations. For example, what specifically is included in an engagement, and more importantly, what’s not. Have an open door policy and don’t be afraid to lay your feelings out on the table when problems arise (and they will). Project management isn’t rocket science. It’s just good ole fashion accountability using delivery milestones, progress updates, and honesty up front when things aren’t going as planned.