Synopses & Reviews
andlt;Pandgt;Failed or abandoned software development projects cost the U.S. economy alone billions of dollars a year. In Software Development Failures, Kweku Ewusi-Mensah offers an empirically grounded study that suggests why these failures happen and how they can be avoided. Case studies analyzed include the well-known Confirm travel industry reservation program, FoxMeyer's Delta, the IRS's Tax System Modernization, the Denver International Airport's Baggage Handling System, and CODIS.It has been estimated that one-third of software development projects fail or are abandoned outright because of cost overruns, delays, and reduced functionality. Some consider this an acceptable risk -- that it is simply the cost of doing business. Ewusi-Mensah argues that understanding the factors involved in development failures will help developers and businesses bring down the rate of software failure and abandoned projects.Ewusi-Mensah explores the reasons software development projects are vulnerable to failure and why issues of management and organization are at the core of any failed project. He examines these projects not from a deterministically technical perspective but as part of a complex technical and social process; he proposes a framework of factors that contribute to the decision to abandon a project and enumerates the risks and uncertainties inherent in each phase of a project's life cycle. Exploring the multiplicity of factors that make software development risky, he presents empirical data that is reinforced by analyses of the reported cases. He emphasizes the role of the user in the development process and considers the effect of organizational politics on a project. Finally, he considers what lessons can be learned from past failures and how software development practices can be improved.andlt;/Pandgt;
Review
"For anyone who has ever wondered why software development is so prone to failure and what can be done about it, Ewusi-Mensah's work provides valuable insights. This book makes a compelling argument for learning from software development failures, so that the same mistakes aren't repeated in future projects." Mark Keil, Professor, Department of Computer Information Systems, Georgia State University
Synopsis
Failed or abandoned software development projects cost the US economy alone billions of dollars a year. In
Software Development Failures, Kweku Ewusi-Mensah offers an empirically grounded study that suggests why these failures happen and how they can be avoided.
Case studies analyzed include the well-known CONFIRM travel industry reservation program, FoxMeyer's Delta, the IRS's Tax System Modernization, the Denver International Airport's Baggage Handling System, and CODIS. It has been estimated that one-third of software development projects fail or are abandoned outright, because of cost overruns, delays, and reduced functionality. Some consider this an acceptable risk factorthat it is simply the cost of doing business. Ewusi-Mensah argues that understanding the factors involved in development failures will help developers and businesses bring down the rate of software failure and abandoned projects.
Ewusi-Mensah explores the reasons software development projects are vulnerable to failure and why issues of management and organization are at the core of any failed project. He examines these projects not from a deterministically technical perspective, but as part of a complex technical and social process; he proposes a framework of factors that contribute to the decision to abandon a project and enumerates the risks and uncertainties inherent in each phase of a project's life cycle. Examining the multiplicity of factors that make software development risky, he presents empirical data that is reinforced by analyses of the reported cases. He emphasizes the role of the user in the development process, and considers the effect of organizational politics on a project. Finally, he considerswhat lessons can be learned from past failures and how software development practices can be improved.
Synopsis
An empirically based study of why software development failures happen, and the lessons we can learn.
Failed or abandoned software development projects cost the U.S. economy alone billions of dollars a year. In Software Development Failures, Kweku Ewusi-Mensah offers an empirically grounded study that suggests why these failures happen and how they can be avoided. Case studies analyzed include the well-known Confirm travel industry reservation program, FoxMeyer's Delta, the IRS's Tax System Modernization, the Denver International Airport's Baggage Handling System, and CODIS.It has been estimated that one-third of software development projects fail or are abandoned outright because of cost overruns, delays, and reduced functionality. Some consider this an acceptable risk -- that it is simply the cost of doing business. Ewusi-Mensah argues that understanding the factors involved in development failures will help developers and businesses bring down the rate of software failure and abandoned projects.Ewusi-Mensah explores the reasons software development projects are vulnerable to failure and why issues of management and organization are at the core of any failed project. He examines these projects not from a deterministically technical perspective but as part of a complex technical and social process; he proposes a framework of factors that contribute to the decision to abandon a project and enumerates the risks and uncertainties inherent in each phase of a project's life cycle. Exploring the multiplicity of factors that make software development risky, he presents empirical data that is reinforced by analyses of the reported cases. He emphasizes the role of the user in the development process and considers the effect of organizational politics on a project. Finally, he considers what lessons can be learned from past failures and how software development practices can be improved.
Synopsis
An empirically based study of why software development failures happen, and the lessons we can learn.
Synopsis
Failed or abandoned software development projects cost the U.S. economy alone billions of dollars a year. In
Synopsis
andlt;Pandgt;An empirically based study of why software development failures happen, and the lessons we can learn.andlt;/Pandgt;
About the Author
Kweku Ewusi-Mensah is Professor of Computer Information Systems at Loyola Marymount University.
Table of Contents
I. Conceptual issues. Software development project failures -- Software project characteristics -- Factors critical to abandoned software projects -- II. Empirical factors. Socioorganizational factors and abandoned projects -- Technical factors and abandoned projects -- Economic factors and abandoned projects -- User perspectives on software development failures -- III. Learning from failures. Postabandonmnet review: learning from abandoned projects -- Software development: a strategic paradigm -- Project failures and aftermath.