IS success and failure: the problem of scale

In this article we consider Information Systems (IS) failure, and how social and technical factors combine and contribute to project setbacks. This is a timely re¯ection,given the turbulence and confusion facing what has been described as the largest non-military IT project in historyÐthe Connecting for Health (CfH) agenda part of the National Programme for IT in the NHS. Firstly, we cataloguesome predecessors of CfH producing costly IT project failures. We then analyse `failures' in IS and discuss some theories put forward to contextualise failure. Thisthen provides the framework for a more in-depth discussion of the CfH agenda. We discuss the way forward, suggestingthat `joined-up-thinking' is necessary with the adoption of the government's own interoperability framework. We concludewith the message `think local, think modular', suggesting that good practice should be built on and that trust shouldbe a key word for future IS project developments