A project planning problem

A major project-planning problem was encountered in this project: a very low-level involvement of the end-users during the capture of the project requirements. Initially, the project team assumed that a model and a list of product requirements for a successful competitive intelligence system were relatively well known across the tourism industry. Therefore (and probably also as a result of a pressing need of rushing into implementation) not much effort was allocated on planning which were to be the functional characteristics of the system to be created –instead, the plan was to get an external team of consultants to ‘borrow’ this information from others. So, various sectors of the organization were left uninvolved in the scope management process. However, as it was later determined, the project’s main objective was not to implement a new ‘technology’, but in fact to perform a revolutionary change in the organization’s philosophy. The various line managers in particular were to have a crucial role in the new modus operandi, as they would be responsible for the analysis of the information collected, so it was crucial to listen to their views. Another negative consequence of not involving the project’s end-users in the planning process is team members’ resistance. When the members of an organization perceive a project as a mandatory change on their performance, opposition and internal battles arise. In conclusion, a higher involvement of the team members from the onset of the project-planning phase could have avoided many problems. On one hand, because it promotes cooperation and motivation amongst the team, on the other because it has been empirically demonstrated (Dvir et al. 2003) that there is a linear relationship between a complete and accurate definition of end-user requirements and project success, from their