Does Ego Drive Information System Design?

What role does human ego play in the design and implementation of Enterprise IT solutions?

Are IT systems as over-complicated (and over-budget and over-due and...) as they often are because their designers seek self-glorification in them? Or perhaps because their implementers are so threatened by the risks they represent that they insert an overabundance of redundant and superfluous "t's" and "i's" just so they can cross and dot them in the name of (perpetual) due diligence?"

You'll find a complete description of the problem, its many hidden costs, some hints at its cause, and some suggestion for dealing with it, in the article Radically Simple IT, from the Harvard Business Review:

http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2008/03/radically-simple-it/ar/1

                   

The psychological and behavioral causes of IT problems often escape IT managers and leaders, who are "wired" to look only for rational explanations and solutions.