A Survey on Chaotic Disruption of ICT Project Management and Planning- Triggers, Impact, Challenges, and Recommended Measures

This paper presents the findings of a survey conducted with the aim of understanding factors that triggers chaos, pattern for chaos and its impact to the environment of ICT based project development. The survey is conducted using two-round Delphi method on a selected pool of experienced project managers who were involved in mega ICT project development in Malaysia between the years 1994 until 2004. This involves face-to-face interview, phone interview, and survey forms to offer convenience to the respondents The survey reveals gaps between initial project plan and what was actually carried out during development due to factors such as change in requirement, funding, method, and a myriad of other technological and non technological factors. The survey has also revealed and rank the challenges associated with the chaotic environment and pins down some characteristics of a project that leads to disruption of the stability of its development environment. The findings are important in contributing to improved understanding of factors that induced chaos and what measure should be taken to either avoid or accommodate chaotic situation. It is hoped that the understanding will be useful in improving the project management method for ICT based project development.