Archive for category Project Failure
Causes Of Software Project Failure
Posted by in Project Failure on May 29, 2011
Most software projects fail completely or partial failures because a small number of projects meet all their requirements. These requirements can be the cost, schedule, quality, or requirements objectives. According to many studies, failure rate of software projects is between 50% – 80%. This essay is a compilation of failure causes of software development projects; this essay summarises several areas that play a vital role in software project failure.
So, what really is the reason for software project failure? The sad fact is that software projects fail because we do not recognize that good engineering principles should be applied to software projects just as they are to building office buildings. We try to defend ourselves by saying that software construction is “different”.
One of the most serious complaints against software failure is the inability
to estimate with acceptable accuracy the cost, resources, and schedule necessary
for a software project. Conventional assessment methods have always produced
positive results which contribute to the too well-known cost infested and
schedule slippage.
Over the last 20 years many cost and schedule estimation techniques have been
used with mixed sensation due to restrictions of the assessment models. A major
part of the estimations failure can be due to a lack of understanding of the
software development process and the effect of that method used in the project
plan, schedule and cost estimates.
Failure Case Studies
Below are few of the case studies considered which will be analysed to fetch
the main reasons of failure of the software system.
Northumbria University developed accounting software to manage its day to day
business. The project could not come up with the desired results and failed to
meet the deadlines. Te investigations showed that the basic project management
procedures were not followed. This case study is referenced in this essay at
different points where necessary. Read the rest of this entry »
Top Four Key Categories of Project Failure
Posted by in Project Failure on May 27, 2011
Every year, big companies invest millions of dollars in many of their strategic projects with several key objectives in mind: Business Expansion, Portfolio Diversification, Improvement in Product Marketing and many more…
Not all of these projects ultimately get launched successfully, some were on hold because of some specific reason, while some just didn’t get to deploy successfully, while many of them were staggered into sub-projects which will be deployed by phases with different deployment dates.
At high level, Projects failures can be categorized into 4 great category,
a. ) Poor planning:
-The key to any project success ( regardless of its size, its budget and for which regions ) is good planning. Good planning helps minimize potential risks, reduce last minute changes, and avoid any miss dependency. One of the key item in project planning is Risk management. With a well out-lined plan, issues and risks get mitigated significantly with alternative work-arounds ready to take care of the issues while the long term solution is on its way.
Here are some sign of poor planned projects,
1. Major gaps remained to be unresolved
2. Key stakeholders have no active participation in the project
3. Too frequent changes in the scope, Business requirements can’t be finalized.
4. Multiple revises in project Time lines
5. Lack of Test and Development Resources
b.) Lack of Management support:
-A project will only be successful if there are strong support from Management in terms of financial support and Resource support. If without, Projects will suffer from one or more of the following areas:
-Inadequate skills and inappropriate Staffing – Lack of team members with the necessary skills to run the projects in the Organization ; however, Management do not see the need for additional staffing.
- Lack of financial support – Management will invest their money in projects where they believe higher return will be reaped. Lack of budget resources will somehow forced the project to stop sooner or later. Read the rest of this entry »