Implementing IT governance in the public sector by use of bootstrap algorithms

Book excerpt: It has been argued that the reason seventy percent of all IT projects fail is due to lack of a formal system for guiding and monitoring IT decisions. Organisations having explicit IT governance systems are generally twice as successful as those with poor governance, given the same strategic objectives, but implementing IT governance can be difficult. In this book, Dr. Ogland looks at the public sector and argues that the implementation of IT governance has to be done through bootstrapping. The bootstrap algorithm (BA) is a time-tested approach that is known to work, but it is an approach that breaks with much of the logic of the public sector bureaucracy and is expected to be met with resistance. By analysing patterns in a study of trying to convince a Norwegian public sector organisation to implement IT governance through the use of the BA, the book is able to provide rich insights on what causes failure and how to make the implementation process succeed.