Governments have never been more keen to leverage information technology for public projects, but their track record isn’t particularly good.

In Victoria, myki has been branded a “disaster from touch on to touch off”. HealthSMART in Queensland has been ditched. In NSW, the first transport card scheme, T-Card, became a legal saga before being canned.

Problems with public IT projects often start with the engagement process. Clients don’t understand the complexity of the technology required, and the providers often don’t understand the complexity of the business process they are working on. And sleek sales weasels are in the middle ...