15 September 2006
Research has exploded the myth that prestigious government projects fail because managers are too risk averse.
On the contrary, a Work Foundation report, seen exclusively by Public Finance, says that a reckless attitude towards information and communication technology projects has wasted millions of pounds of taxpayers' money.
The foundation criticises public sector managers for failing to test new systems properly before rolling them out, and for favouring over-complex designs.
Alexandra Jones, associate director at the Work Foundation and co-author of the report Where next for transformational government?, said: 'Too many government ICT projects fail to deliver the promised benefits because public sector managers have a reckless streak – they become dazzled by the potential of the technology and lose sight of what is practically deliverable.'
The report is the fifth in the Work Foundation's Public Services and ICT series and is based on 25 interviews across the public sector.
It says managers need a more balanced approach in terms of delivering ICT projects, and should be neither too cautious nor too foolhardy.
'Government should not be about cutting-edge innovation – it should be about serving citizens well and efficiently,' Jones said.
'If someone gets their benefits late due to computer failure, it matters in a way that it is simply doesn't when private sector ICT projects fail… in the public sector ICT needs to work.'
She added that technology was not an end in itself and managers needed to learn to identify what was most appropriate rather than including 'flashy software' for the sake of it.
The report also gives examples of ICT initiatives judged to have been largely successful. These include the Pensions Service, Birmingham City Council's social services department, and Learndirect.
The report recommends that managers charged with the design and delivery of large-scale ICT projects resist the impulse to overcomplicate. Large-scale projects should also be thoroughly piloted on a smaller scale and managers should try to incorporate successes from previous projects.
The views of staff who have to use the system as part of their day-to-day working should also be taken into account, it suggests.
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