Counting the cost of IT projects

When I started to write a book on IT cost estimation, friends of mine ?? all of them seasoned project managers ?? treated the project with some scepticism. "Things take as long as they take," was the general view. "All IT budgets go over budget. It??s just their nature." My friends all have plans, timetables, risk analyses, change control procedures and the other manifestations of a well-managed project in place, but are cheerfully resigned to exceeding its estimated time and budget and to limiting the amount of the proposed functionality to be implemented.