Why Software Projects Fail and How to Make Them Succeed
By Duncan Haughey
Let's start with a worrying statistic. According to the Standish Group in 1995, only about 16% of software projects are successful, 53% challenged (that is cost overruns, budget overruns or content deficiencies) and 31% cancelled.
Furthermore, they say that the average software project runs 222% late, 189% over budget and delivers only 61% of the specified functions. Evidence suggests little has changed since then.
Failure has become the I.T. industry norm. So what can we do about it?
A good starting point is by addressing some of the key reasons software projects fail.
Not Enough Time
Often the deadline date is decided prior to the project starting and is non-negotiable. This results in a headlong rush to get started on the assumption that the sooner you begin coding the sooner you'll be finished.
This is almost always the wrong approach. It is vital to spend time to create a good design. Not having a good design leads to ongoing changes throughout the development phase. When this happens time and budget are consumed at a very rapid rate.
Solution: Make time to create a good design. Resist the temptation to jump straight in and begin coding. Allocate time to this and the rest of the project will run much better. It will enhance your reputation to deliver something that fulfills the customers expectations and works properly first time.
Insufficient Budget
Many projects have a "lowest price most successful candidate" policy, or an unrealistically low budget, not based on the true requirements. When this happens everything tends to slow down. Resources are slow to arrive or never arrive, corners are cut and quality suffers.
Solution: Be realistic about the budget and make sure it is based on the actual requirements. Avoid basing the selection of a supplier solely on lowest price. Go with a supplier or team that has a proven track record of delivery within budget.
Poor Communication
There's an old saying, "never assume anything" and this is especially true for software projects. Good communication is vital for project success with the customer, users and especially the development team. Does everyone in the team understand you? Do they know exactly what's expected of them or have you assumed they know? Do they communicate well with each other, with users and with other departments?
Solution: Identify potential communication breakdowns now. These can lead to confusion and complications later in the project. Never assume that everyone understands. Take time to create an environment that will bring the project in on time, on budget and to the customers expectations.
Never Reviewing Project Progress
As a project progresses things change and these changes can have a significant impact. It is important to monitor progress on a regular basis so that challenges can be overcome early and stakeholders warned of possible delays and changes to the product.
Solution: Set frequent milestones during the project when you can review progress with your team and make any adjustments necessary to stay on course. Stay close to your team so you understand what is going on and what challenges they face.
Inadequate Testing
When the pressure to deliver is on, it is often testing that suffers. All the testing is left until the end of the development cycle and only lip service paid to it. The result is often a product filled with bugs and unhappy customers.
Solution: Carryout testing throughout the development lifecycle, testing each module or component as it's developed. This leaves just the integration testing to be carried out at the end of the development lifecycle.
Testing in the Production Environment
It's surprising how many organisations test products in the production environment. This is a high-risk strategy that can lead to security breaches and release without testing that can disrupt the production environment.
Solution: Develop a process for quality assurance and release of new products. Provide an environment separated from production for the purpose of testing.
Lack of Quality Assurance
Often in the haste to get software delivered quality assurance suffers. Code changes are not documented, the design contains fatal flaws and implementations can be incomplete. These all lead to rework, lost time and ultimately unhappy customers.
Solution: Take the time to quality check and document software before it is released.
Not Conforming to Industry Standards
Conforming to industry standards in your software projects can prove effective by ensuring accessibility, portability, usability, robustness and reducing problems now and in the future. Bodies such as International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) have developed open standards that when used are hard to challenge.
Solution: Take time to introduce standards for your projects. Identify what works well and keep doing it and what doesn't and change it. Review and update your standards on a regular basis.
Next time you run a software project review this list first and remind yourself to take steps to ensure your success, you'll be surprised at the difference it makes.
