Barriers to the use of an IT Project Management Methodology in a large financial institution

• IT professionals believe that the use of an IT PMM brings benefits to the organization.
• Simply establishing an IT PMM is not sufficient to ensure its use.
• We identified five main barriers that prevent the use of an IT PMM.
• We proposed an action plan for the removal of the barriers that prevent the use of an IT PMM.
• The establishment of a PMM for IT projects is recommended for large Brazilian financial institutions.

The global financial crisis of 2008 demanded greater control mechanisms from the financial service industry. The IT Project Management Methodology (PMM) is considered an important control mechanism for IT governance to support managers in achieving more predictable rates of project management success (PMS). The aim of this study is to further investigate how an implemented IT PMM that contributes to PMS is used in a large Brazilian financial institution. A case study was conducted on one of the largest financial institutions in the world that is located in Brazil by means of interviews, analysis of a database of 3047 IT projects and a survey of 347 IT professionals. The study showed that, despite the belief of 90% of the IT professionals that the use of an IT PMM improves PMS rates, there are five main barriers that prevent its proper use: very tight project deadlines; working as both a developer and a project manager; working simultaneously on several projects; difficulty using the project management software; and a lack of knowledge of the PMM. Finally, an action plan to solve these issues is presented.

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