Strategies Project Managers Use That Reduce Information Technology Project Failures in the Insurance Industry

The worldwide failure rate of information technology (IT) projects is approximately 65%. Insurance project managers who fail to successfully implement IT projects negatively impact organizational performance and profitability. Grounded in the management by objectives theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies project managers use to reduce IT project failures in the insurance industry. The participants comprised four IT project managers in Alabama who successfully used strategies to reduce IT project failures in the insurance industry. Data were collected from virtual semistructured interviews, company documents, existing literature, and journal notes. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Three themes emerged: scope management, effective communication, and managing priorities. A key recommendation for IT project managers is to develop a change control process for scope management. The implications for positive social change include the potential for IT project managers to create jobs and stimulate the local economy

A System Development Life Cycle for Persuasive Design for Sustainability

The impact of a system development lifecycle (SDLC) often determines the success of a project from analysis to evolution. Although SDLC can be universally used design projects, a focused SDLC for a specific complex design issue could be valuable for understanding diverse user needs. The importance of sustainability elevation using a persuasive system is not new. Previous research presented frameworks and design principles for persuasive system design for sustainability, while an SDLC of sustainable system development also exists. However, at present no SDLC for persuasive design aiming for sustainability is evident, which was proposed in this paper. An existing sustainable SDLC established earlier by the authors was taken as the reference framework. A cognitive model with established persuasive design principles was then analyzed and mapped within the context of the reference framework to come up with the resulting life cycle. Finally, extensive discussions and future work possibilities were given