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Software engineering projects may fail before they are started: Post-mortem analysis of five cancelled projects

Authors:

Jarmo J. Ahonen,

Paula SavolainenAuthors Info & Claims

Journal of Systems and Software, Volume 83, Issue 11

Pages 2175 - 2187

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2010.06.023

Published: 01 November 2010 Publication History

Abstract

Context: Software project cancellations are often caused by mistakes made during the project, and such cancellations make a strong economic impact. We analyzed five cancelled software engineering projects. One case was an internal product development project of a company that sells products to its customers. The other four cases were different software engineering projects, and outcomes of these projects were planned to be delivered to external customers. Objective: This study reports a post-mortem analysis of five software engineering projects with the aim of providing more knowledge about the reasons for cancellation decisions and the causes behind those reasons. Methods: The research method is case study. A method for a document-based post-mortem analysis was developed and post-mortem analysis was performed. All project documentation was available for analysis. Results: The reasons for the cancellation decisions were well-known ones. In four cases of five, the outcome of the project was to be delivered to an external customer, but in these cases the causes of the cancellation reasons were not found from the normal project documentation. In these cases the cause of the cancellation originated in a phase before the start of the project and therefore the project was doomed before it was started. Conclusion: It is reasonable to suggest that a remarkable portion of project cancellations are due to mistakes made before the project is started in the case of contract-based software engineering projects.

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Cited By

Veizaga AShin SBriand L(2024)Automated Smell Detection and Recommendation in Natural Language RequirementsIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/TSE.2024.336103350:4(695-720)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TSE.2024.3361033
Gentili EFalessi D(2023)Characterizing Requirements SmellsProduct-Focused Software Process Improvement10.1007/978-3-031-49266-2_27(387-398)Online publication date: 11-Dec-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-49266-2_27
Veizaga AAlferez MTorre DSabetzadeh MBriand L(2021)On systematically building a controlled natural language for functional requirementsEmpirical Software Engineering10.1007/s10664-021-09956-626:4Online publication date: 1-Jul-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10664-021-09956-6
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Software engineering projects may fail before they are started: Post-mortem analysis of five cancelled projects
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Management of computing and information systems

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Published In

cover image Journal of Systems and Software

Journal of Systems and Software Volume 83, Issue 11

November, 2010

352 pages

ISSN:0164-1212

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Copyright © Elsevier Inc. © 2010.

Publisher

Elsevier Science Inc.

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 November 2010

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Cited By

Veizaga AShin SBriand L(2024)Automated Smell Detection and Recommendation in Natural Language RequirementsIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/TSE.2024.336103350:4(695-720)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TSE.2024.3361033
Gentili EFalessi D(2023)Characterizing Requirements SmellsProduct-Focused Software Process Improvement10.1007/978-3-031-49266-2_27(387-398)Online publication date: 11-Dec-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-49266-2_27
Veizaga AAlferez MTorre DSabetzadeh MBriand L(2021)On systematically building a controlled natural language for functional requirementsEmpirical Software Engineering10.1007/s10664-021-09956-626:4Online publication date: 1-Jul-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10664-021-09956-6
Jinasena DSpanaki KPapadopoulos TBalta M(2020)Success and Failure Retrospectives of FinTech Projects: A Case Study ApproachInformation Systems Frontiers10.1007/s10796-020-10079-425:1(259-274)Online publication date: 22-Oct-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10796-020-10079-4
Omar ABass JLowit P(2017)Exploring the Factors that Influence the Success of Insourced Government ICT ProjectsThe Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries10.1002/j.1681-4835.2016.tb00564.x77:1(1-21)Online publication date: 5-Dec-2017
Ahonen JSavolainen PMerikoski HNevalainen J(2015)Reported project management effort, project size, and contract typeJournal of Systems and Software10.1016/j.jss.2015.08.008109:C(205-213)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.jss.2015.08.008
Savolainen PAhonen JRichardson I(2015)When did your project start? - The software supplier's perspectiveJournal of Systems and Software10.1016/j.jss.2015.02.041104:C(32-40)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.jss.2015.02.041
Ahonen JSavolainen P(2011)The Presence of the Customer and the Supplier Perspectives in Studies on Software Development Project SuccessScientific Journal of Riga Technical University10.2478/v10143-011-0010-943:1(72-79)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.2478/v10143-011-0010-9

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