There is no mystery surrounding the reasons for IT project failure, yet such problems are ubiquitous and touch on businesses of every variety. Although all the experience and information we need is out there in the public domain, vendors and buyers of IT services make the same mistakes again and again. This book provides systematic guidance on how to sense and avoid the causes of IT project failure at every step, from project conception to the disposal of the system after a long and beneficial operational life. It includes detailed analysis of what the author sees as the 40 root causes of troubled IT projects, drawn from the available research, the author's personal experience and common sense. This book covers the entire project life-cycle from both sides of the buyer-vendor relationship and will be a valuable handbook for IT services professionals, IT managers and software engineers.