In September 2020, the Queensland Audit Office (QAO) tabled a report to parliament on Delivering successful technology projects (Report 7: 2020–21). Years have since passed, however our insights remain highly relevant. The fundamentals we outline have not changed despite rapid advances in technology. Digital tools evolve quickly, but the reasons technology projects succeed or fail are still overwhelmingly human, organisational, and governance-related.

In our report, we highlighted recurring risks and issues in delivering technology projects and shared learnings from across our audit work with the wider public sector. For practical application of our insights, we prepared an accompanying better practice guide outlining 5 success factors for digital project delivery – active senior leadership, alignment to business outcomes, one‑team delivery with suppliers, appropriate skills and capacity, and disciplined learning. These 5 success factors continue to reflect what we see in modern digital programs. Cloud platforms, agile delivery, and artificial intelligence-enabled systems have increased complexity for those charged with governance, rather than reduced risk. That makes continual questioning and challenge by entity leadership, realistic project and program planning, and clear accountability even more critical today. 

Importantly, our report does not advocate a single methodology or ‘silver bullet’. Instead, it recognises that successful projects integrate these 5 success factors into existing governance and tailor them to context. This flexibility is why our advice remains relevant and important across departments, industries, project sizes, and years. No one factor is more important than another; it is the combination and integration of them all that can help entities improve the maturity of the processes they use to deliver technology projects.

The case studies in the report on various public sector technology projects reinforce another enduring insight – where lessons learned from previous technology projects are widely known, but not consistently applied by entities to new projects. This means mistakes from the past are often repeated. Leadership teams need to step back and ensure the project teams use the learnings on why projects have failed to manage current or emerging project risks.  

Resources

QAO provides a range of resources to support entities as they benefit from rapidly emerging technologies, and service delivery demands require more and better digital platforms and tools.  

Blogs: 

• Setting up technology projects for success
• Rethinking data governance for artificial intelligence and emerging technologies
• Strengthening ethical risk management of artificial intelligence systems

Better practice guides: 

• Guidelines for implementing new systems
• Checklist for managing ethical risks in artificial intelligence
• Checklist for managing third-party cyber security risks