Here, CIOs need to establish a master list of upcoming projects, determine the ROI of each project, and then prioritize all projects by their business benefit, says Baschab.

IT leaders should determine how much capacity the IT department has and limit the number of open projects to what IT can handle. Expect the amount of projects to be smaller than you want, says Baschab, but "be rest assured that projects will actually get done on time and on budget for once."

The recipe for keeping your vendors in line, says Baschab, is to insist on favorable contracts and aggressively manage your vendor relationships after the sale is done.