two most frequently experienced causes of frustration in IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan?

What are the two most frequently experienced causes of frustration in IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan?


At first, I am still in the midst of finding my brain to help me shop for wonderful answers but unfortunately I cannot find one. I think I should rest, a kind of deep rest. Well, I know and I must know that I should keep on going.

As human we do have frustration or dissatisfaction, even vampires. When we fail, it keeps repeating because during the time of failure we also lose self esteem and self confidence. One of the best examples is that when we are having an exam and we study for all night but suddenly when the examination comes we don’t have any answers because the content of the exam are different form the one we have studied. Failure does not always have to be negative, it can also be a positive experienced if the procedures involved in the failure are analyzed and corrected. If one does something always right, there is no opportunity for learning. Failure gives opportunity for learning from previous mistake. When one does something right, only one confirms what is already known and how to do it. Learning takes place when a mistake is identified and it is corrected (Ackoff 1994). The idea is to take advantage of the failure and turn the negative feeling around by analyzing what went wrong and correcting it for future times.

But what if we are swimming on a broader sense? What if we are talking about those Information system professionals and users who are working on an Information system plan? As we all know, this kind of planning needs lots and series of research and serious study. Thus, if it is not successfully done, it will be one of the cause of frustrations of some IS professionals. It will be difficult for them to accept the fact that after all of their little feelings of distress and efforts their work will just be seen in the trash and not in the company.

But it is not actually the most frequently causes of frustrations but the minor one. Let us focus now on the frequent reactions of IS professionals while working on an IS plan. One of the things that make continuous efforts at the same time motivating and frustrating is what often seems to be a constant watercourse of problems. Strong skills in solving problem are essential to successful continuous improvement activities. Without which one will be doomed to solve the same problem repeatedly. Sometimes when life is playing with us, system failures can be the most frequent problem. It happens when a system does not meet its requirements. It is like a bullet in gun failing to designate its target.

Let us just put ourselves in the situation as an IT student having a laboratory exam in JAVA or any programming subjects. We are in the middle of making our program work and then all of a sudden (sometimes expected in our own Laboratory room) the computer shuts down. What will we feel? We are not just frustrated but we want to kill whoever person we saw, right? We know that we need to start over again but we are already running out of time. We always said “it is really the end of my IT life. Wala nako’y future ani. Huhuhuhu.” It is just like ending our life at the very exact moment because we already know what will be the outcome of the said exam.

The same scenario or problems also happens in IS professionals while working on an IS plan. Since they are always facing technologies they are always prone to system failures or even system breakdown.

In the business world, failures can be looked as opportunities to improve the process that contribute to business objectives and since information systems play a very important role in the daily operations of most businesses hence the development of such systems has become very important. It is known that project managers are guided throughout the development and successful completion of the projects. But still there are still many failures in IS projects.

One of the two common causes of frustrations is the project management failure itself. This is a common fact and even more complex in most companies. The common reasons behind these failures are poorly trained or inexperienced project managers who fails to set and manage expectations, poor leadership at any and all levels, failure to adequately identify, poor plans and planning processes or misalignment between the project plan and the business or other organization it serves and poor communication. Since the great deal of responsibility lies on project managers, they need to focus their interpersonal skills to get people accomplish their work. That is why we need to learn from our own mistake and the importance of learning about project failure so that we won’t repeat the same mistake in the future. Project manager is like a bridge that links key pieces together. And in order to reach pieces effectively he needs to have a balance of soft skills and technical knowledge.

But these sources of failures can be lessened. The most common practice is by having the project planned in totally different environment and trained those people with little or no specific knowledge in project planning. To top it all, the task of analysis and design must be carried out attentively. The team should be able to spot the weaknesses in a timely manner through the use of appropriate project management tools.

We need not to be affected with any kind of causes we will encounter that will just make us frustrated. As professional, we should act like one. Although during the time of making an IS plan it has still remain largely touched by crisis and failures. In the face of these problems, there has been always some distinguished technological or physical initiative.

Be strong and always be strong for it is the best approach for meeting the environmental challenges that lie ahead.