There is a popular notion that Projects are some how not needed to develop software. Just fund the Team and the business outcomes needed to fulfill a strategy and deliver value to the balance sheet will appear.
This may work in domains where the project team, the business and its processes and the funding sources are in fact all the same - a small startup for example. When the business moves beyond this self-contained startup mode, other processes become needed to Govern the use of funds - Stewardship of Funding.
Here's how to approach the process, once the firm moves beyond a collection of individuals personally all interacting with their customer based. These processes, data, and outcomes belong to the realm of Governance. In IT, Governance †
- Clarifies business strategies and the role of IT in achieving them.
- Measures and manages the amount of funding spent on the value received from IT.
- Assigns accountability for the organizational changes required to benefit from new IT capabilities.
- Learns from each implementation and becoming more adept at sharing and reusing IT assets.