The Common Purpose

President Obama has been talking about motivating America by getting everyone to work for a common purpose. This is not a new concept; my colleagues and I have been talking about this for years with particular emphasis to the IT industry. A little while ago I was talking to a good friend and colleague about some of the projects that we had worked upon recently, when out of the blue he said that all of the projects that he had been managing recently had been closed down because the software house he had been working for had failed to deliver their side of the bargain. There was one honourable exception where the customer, itself, had gone out of business. Why had this happened? I know that my colleague is an exceptionally talented project manager and programme director and has the drive and nous to succeed.
Many people from top to bottom in our industry do not understand the concept of a common purpose where customers and purchasers work together to meet mutually beneficial goals. These goals should be to implement information systems which meet objectively defined business purposes which improve customer service, productivity and profitability. When all the stakeholders within an IT industry work to this code of practice and set aside pure self interest there will be benefits which will accrue for the whole of our society which will become more productive and rich. If stakeholders only concern themselves with self interest then IT implementation failures will become more apparent and the whole of industry will be the worse for it. A change of attitude is needed from everyone employed in the industry to ensure that issue of common purpose is addressed effectively.