Private sector 'doesn't always know best'

Councils should not assume that the private sector knows best when they start projects involving key IT systems, a public sector shared services conference was told last week.

KPMG partner Beverley Brookes said that big companies frequently failed to realise business benefits from major projects, but despite this there was "a presumption that the private sector does project management much better than the public sector".

Brookes said both the public and private sectors would increase their chances of success if they put the delivery of business objectives in individual employees' personal development plans.

And she said IT directors and managers should start each project by setting out in detail just how it will deliver what the business needs.

"To make that sort of document effective, it needs to be as simple as possible," said Brookes.

"The best way to do it is to work with whatever project objectives you have after three months of planning and get the project under way."

Brookes warned that the list of deliverables had to be simple because it would be revisited and updated constantly over the lifetime of the project, but said that if a project was a success it had the potential to transform an operation and boost the reputations of all those involved.