Abstract
The notions of success and failure in software projects are confusing. Failure is often considered in the context of the iron triangle as the inability to meet time, cost, and performance constraints. While there is a consensus around the prevalence of project failure, new projects seem destined to repeat past mistakes. This chapter tries to advance the discussion by offering a new perspective for reasoning about the meaning of success and the different types of software project failures.
In order to court project success, practitioners need to rise beyond a fixation with the internal parameters of efficiency, thus bringing forth the effectiveness required to secure project success. The chapter begins by discussing the limited insights from existing project failure surveys, before offering a four-level model addressing the essence of successful delivery and operation in software projects. Following consideration of outcomes and time, the chapter offers a series of vignettes and mini case studies that highlight the rich interplay between the four levels of success, before addressing the types of measures underpinning the four levels and the need to develop a multi-dimensional perspective to obtain a more accurate picture regarding the success of a project.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anon (1979) Contracting for computer software development—serious problems require management attention to avoid wasting additional millions, general accounting office report to the congress by the comptroller general of the United States. FGMSD 80–84
Baccarini D (1999) The logical framework method for defining project success’. Proj Manag J 30(4):25–32
Barnes M (2013) Private communication, September 2013 BBC (2003) BBC Radio 4 news, 15.5.2003. http://www.silicon.com/news/500022/1/4169.html
BBC (2012) London 2012 legacy plan published, 18 September 2012. http://bbc.co.uk. Accessed 12 Nov 2013
Bloch M, Blumberg S, Laartz J (2013) Delivering large-scale IT projects on time, on budget and on value. McKinsey Finance 45:28–35
Brooks F (1975) The mythical man-month: essays on software engineering. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA
Buxton JN, Naur P, Randell B (1969) Software engineering techniques. In: Proceedings, NATO conference, scientific affair division, Brussels
Charette RN (2005) Why software fails. IEEE Spectr 42(9):42–49
Cooke-Davies T (2002) The “real” success factors on project. Int J Proj Manag 20(3):185–190
Dalcher D (1994) Falling down is part of growing up; the study of failure and the software engineering community. In: Proceedings of 7th SEI education in software engineering conference. Springer, New York, pp 489–496
Dalcher D (2009) Making sense of IS failures. Encyc Inf Sci Technol 5:2476–2483
Dalcher D (2010) The LAS story: learning from project failure. In: Turner RJ, Huemann M, Anbari FT, Bredillet CN (eds) Perspectives on projects. Routledge, New York
Dalcher D (2012) The nature of project management: a reflection on the anatomy of major projects by Morris and Hough. Int J Manag Proj Bus 5(4):643–660
Dalcher D, Brodie L (2007) Successful IT projects. Thomson, London
Dalcher D, Genus A (2003) Avoiding IS/IT implementation failure. Tech Anal Str Manag 15(4):403–407
de Wit A (1988) Measurement of project management success. Int J Proj Manag 6(3):164–170
Drevin L, Dalcher D (2011a) Antenarrative and narrative: the experience of actors involved in the development and use of information systems. In: Boje DM (ed) Storytelling and the future of organisations: an antenarrative handbook. Taylor and Francis, New York, pp 148–162
Drevin L, Dalcher D (2011b) Narrative methods: success and failure stories as told by information systems users. In: Standing conference for management and organization enquiry, SC’MOI conference, Philadelphia, PA
Drevin L, Dalcher D (2011c) Using antenarrative approaches to investigate the perceptions of Information Systems’ actors regarding failure and success. In: Pokorny J, Repa V, Richta K, Wojtkowski W, Linger H, Barry C, Lang M (eds) Information systems development business systems and services: modeling and development. Springer, New York, pp 207–218
Egan J (1998) Rethinking construction, the report of the construction task force. Department of Environment, Transport and the Region, London
Egan J (2008) Sir John Egan’s speech to the house of commons, 21st April, 2008
Eveleens JL, Verhoef C (2010) The rise and fall of the chaos report figures. IEEE Softw 27(1):30–36
Fairley RE, Wilshire MJ (2003) Why the Vasa Sank: 10 problems and some antidotes for software projects. IEEE Softw 20(2):18–25
Flowers S (1996) Software failure, management failure. Wiley, Chichester
Flyvbjerg B, Budzier A (2011) Why your IT project may be riskier than you think. Harv Bus Rev 89(9):83–85
Geneca (2011) Doomed from the start? Why a majority of business and IT teams anticipate their software development project will fail. Geneca, Oakbrook Terrace, IL
Glass R (2005) IT Failure Rates—70% or 10-15%. IEEE Softw 22(3):110–112
Glass R (2006) The Standish report: does it really describe a software crisis? CACM 49(8):15–16
IBM (2008) Making change work. IBM Global Services, Somers, NY
Jones C (1994) Assessment and control of software risks. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Jones C (2000) Software assessments, benchmarks and best practices. Addison-Wesley, Upper Saddle River, NJ
Jones C (2007) Estimating software costs: bringing realism to estimating. McGraw Hill, New York
Jones C (2008) Applied software measurement: global analysis of productivity and quality. McGraw Hill, New York
Jones C (2010) Software engineering best practices: lessons from successful projects in the top companies. McGraw Hill, New York
Jørgensen M, Moløkken K (2006) How large are software cost overruns? A review of the 1994 Chaos report. Inform Softw Technol 48(8):297–301
Kerzner H (2009) Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling and controlling, 10th edn. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ
Kloppenborg T, Mantel SJ (1990) Tradeoffs on projects: they may not be what you think. Proj Manag J 21(1):13–20
KPMG (2010) KPMG New Zeland project management survey 2010. Http://kpmg.co.nz
Linberg K (1999) Software developer perceptions about software project failure: a case study. J Syst Softw 49:177–192
Luqi, Goguen JA (1997) Formal methods: promises and problems. IEEE Softw 14(1):73–85
Lyytinen K, Hirschheim R (1987) Information systems failures—a survey and classification of the empirical literature. Oxf Surv Inf Technol 4:57–309
McManus J, Wood-Harper T (2008) A study in project failure. http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show = ConWebDoc.19584
Morris PWG, Hough G (1987) The anatomy of major projects: a study of the reality of project management. Wiley, Chichester
Munns AK, Bjerimi BF (1996) The role of project management in achieving project success. Int J Proj Manag 14(2):81–87
Naur P, Randell B (1968) Software engineering. In: Proceedings. NATO Scientific Affairs Division, Brussels
Pinto JK, Slevin DP (1988) Critical success factors in effective project implementation. In: Cleland DI, King WR (eds) Project management handbook, 2nd edn. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York
Sauer C, Cuthbertson C (2003) The state of IT project management in the UK 2002–2003. Templeton College, Oxford
Sauer C, Gemino A, Reich BH (2007) The impact of size and volatility on IT project performance. CACM 50(11):79–84
Shenhar AJ, Dvir D (2007) Reinventing project management: the diamond approach to successful growth and innovation. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA
Standish Group (2000) Chaos 2000. Standish, Dennis, MA
Standish Group (2004) Chaos 2004. Standish, Dennis, MA
Standish Group (2011) Chaos 2011. Standish, Dennis, MA
Taylor A (2000) IT projects sink or swim. The Comp Bulletin, January, Brit Comp Society
Turner JR (2009) The handbook of project based management, 3rd edn. McGraw-Hill, New York
Wateridge JH (1995) IT projects: a basis for success. Int J Proj Manag 13(3):169–172
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dalcher, D. (2014). Rethinking Success in Software Projects: Looking Beyond the Failure Factors. In: Ruhe, G., Wohlin, C. (eds) Software Project Management in a Changing World. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55035-5_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55035-5_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-55034-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-55035-5
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)