Many software products fail not because there
is no market, but because the cost of creating the software far outstrips any profit. Currently approximately half a
million project managers worldwide are responsible for in the region of one million software projects each year, which
produce software worth USD$600 billion. It is now accepted that many of these projects fail to fulfil customers'
expectations or fail to deliver the software within budget and on schedule. About one-third of projects have cost
and schedule overruns of more than 125%.
Project Management Failure
Software project failure is often devastating
to an organization. Schedule slips, buggy releases and missing features can mean the end of the project or even
financial ruin for a company. Some of the major reasons for projects running out of control are: unclear objectives;
bad planning; new technology; a lack of a project management methodology; and insufficient staff [Jalote02]. At least
three of these five reasons clearly relate to project management.
While there are many reasons why software
projects fail, one of the most important is incorrect management of the project. Good project management cannot
guarantee project success, however bad project management usually results in project failure. The software is delivered
late, costs more and fails to meet its requirements. Clearly, by using effective project management techniques a
project manager can improve the chances of success.
A study by Capers Jones of approximately 250
software projects between 1995 and 2004 shows an interesting pattern. When comparing projects that successfully
achieved their cost and schedule estimates against those that ran late, were over budget, or were cancelled without
completion, six common problems were observed: poor project planning, poor cost estimating, poor measurements, poor
milestone tracking, poor change control, and poor quality control. By contrast, successful software projects tended to
be better than average in all six of these areas. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of these six problem areas is
that all are associated with project management rather than with technical personnel.
Project Management Success
There are many ways to make large software
systems fail. There are only a few ways of making them succeed. It is commonly agreed that project management is the
key factor that tends to push projects along either the path to success or the path to failure. Among the most
important project management practices leading to success are those of planning and estimating before the project
starts, absorbing changing requirements during the project, and successfully minimizing bugs or defects.
Successful projects always excel in these critical activities: planning, estimating, change control, and
quality control. By contrast, projects that run late or fail typically had flawed or optimistic plans, had estimates
that did not anticipate changes or handle change well, and failed to control quality.
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