What are the four main reasons IT projects fail? And do you know what the early-warning signs are for the approach of those dreaded Four Horsemen? Leon Kappelman, an IT professor who's been studying this issue for many years, will share the results of his extensive research into project failures in an upcoming Webinar. Leon is a prince of a guy and his Webinar is sure to be valuable.In a note to his newsletter subscribers, Leon says the Webinar is free and will be "hopefully fun and illuminating." You can register here. Under the headline "Early Warning Signs of IT Failure: The Four Horsemen of Doom," here's how Leon describes the event:

"Despite the fact that IT deals with 'modern' technologies, IT project management has a rather poor track record in the mastery of risks. Standish Group reminds us year after year that about 20% of IT projects are cancelled before completion and less than a third are finished on time and within budget with expected functionality. If the discussion is limited to larger and therefore riskier projects of 10,000 function points or more, Capers Jones points out that the cancellation rate more than doubles."

But fear not -- the Webinar will offer hard-earned lessons into how to spot disasters-in-the-making and how to avoid the tar pits of colossal IT failures:

"However, the postmortem examination of IT projects reveals that long before the failure there were significant symptoms or 'early warning signs' of trouble. An early warning sign (EWS) is defined as an event or indication that predicts, cautions, or alerts one of possible or impending problems. EWS's provide an indication of manifesting risks and therefore likely future difficulties and failure. Enterprise and project managers need to ask themselves as early as possible whether any 'red flags' warrant significant project redirection or termination."

The Webinar is scheduled for Thursday, March 5, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Eastern time.