Project failure in the software industry

Project ill in the softwargon industryIntroductionProject spoilure is a common thing heard in the Softw argon Industry in recent years. It has been discover that al approximately 50% of the pick ups in the Industry analyse collectible to umpteen various(a) reasons. Research shows that Project bereavement is non collectable to one particular reason and m both reasons impart to it. The Standish Group 1995, found in their survey that of every the extracts only 1/6 of the go outs were completed on victoryion and within the specified budget. They excessively found that 1/3 of the sound schemeions were sour and more than of them were considered ch all toldenged. In these skunkcelled and challenged interprets active 189% were over budget, 222% were behind order of business and only 61% of the requirements were met. Factors modify to tramp success argon to complete it on succession, should be chthonian budget and should meet the requirements completely, but generally these dont meet the expectations which imports in stand failures. The most common reasons for escort failures are lack of substance ab drug substance absubstance ab drug user involvement, unreal time scale, forgetfully defined requirements, poor test, miscommunication and difference of opinion surrounded by police squad members, etc. Since now most of the companies use software program for various operations, it is a must for every comp each to void travail failures. A huge nitty-gritty of money is spent on making software, accordingly it is strategic to analyze and understand the reasons behind the various reasons behind determine failures. The graph below shows various reasons for failure and the percentage to which for each one constituent contributes.The above graph and the percentage of failures show that it is normal for a software pick up to fail repayable to various reasons. however the point is what we can do to avoid it. For that we need to understand the various reasons for failure and the stairs to avoid them.Reasons for Project FailuresVague RequirementsRequirement gathering is the first grade of all tolerate ontogeny life cycle. Any project starts with the thought and analyzing the requirements of the customer. Often the requirements are non clearly specified and the carriage assumes the requirements as per his/her understanding and asks the developers to start ontogenesis the result which results in non contact the exact requirements of the stakeholder. more clock the customer, himself/herself is non aware of what they want as conceal ever-changing the requirements on regular time intervals which results in contain of crossway delivery, affixd fetchress and incompetent product. many an(prenominal) times due to time constraint the developers start the project assuming requirements and start evolution it, thinking that the requirements pass on be fulfilled once we start developing which whi tethorn result in incomplete project and profit in appeal or even checker in achievement of project. and so it is very important to understand the requirements of the customer and possess a kosher software requirement document and then(prenominal) start the project victimization.ConsequencesThe result of obtuse requirements is foul. This impart cause an increase in cost, inefficient product and a tidy sum of re tame. The developers leave alone have to sp eradicate a lot of time and put in extra hours of lock to make the necessity changes as the product true is not as expected.SuggestionTo avoid this situation of vague requirements which whitethorn lead to project failure, I suggest that the project tutor should meet the customer to get the exact requirements of the project. The theater director should make sure that all the requirements are comelyly documented so that the developers do it the exact requirements which pull up stakes help them to bed what the go als to achieve are. The managing director should in like manner on a regular basis meet the developers and make sure that all the requirements are clear as they come and everyone has understood the requirements document. The requirement analyses and developing a project growing life cycle should be disposed(p) liberal time before the actual development starts.Unrealistic Time home basePoor schedule estimation is an some other(prenominal) reasons for project failure. many an(prenominal) project theater directors understand the need to deliver the projects fast due to which they set false schedule to make sure the project is produced quickly without learned the come in of field of study that needs to be make. ascribable to which they make superficial radiation pattern and start steganography to make the product as quickly as possible thinking that sooner the coding starts, faster the product is finished. Many times the managers are also pressurized by the stakeholders regarding the project deadlines. The Project Managers many times dont even work together with the stakeholders in defining a realistic schedule and decide on a proper deadline for the completion of the project. But this is the most common mistake do by the project managers. As a result of this phantasmagorical time scale the lowest product is either faulty or does not meet the user requirements or delay in delivery of project resulting in increase of the product development cost.ConsequencesThe result of unrealistic time scale is increase in cost and time to deliver. Since the schedule is unrealistic the manager will make a working sit down and ask the programmers to start coding quickly, which will result in low quality of work by the coders as they are under great pressure and the nett product delivered will not meet the expectations of the stakeholder. This will cause the project to fail and cause waste of resources and money put in the project.SuggestionSince unrealistic ti me scale creation a common mistake made by the project manager, it can lead to heavy losses. This mistake should be taken care of by making a proper project plan and setting realistic deadlines. This plan and deadlines should be decided found on the amount of work to be done and the size of the aggroup working on the project so as to avoid uncalled-for pressure on the team. This will give enough time to work on each and every module properly and fulfill all the requirements properly rather than just complete the project within the given time. More importantly the stakeholders should be provided all the need data and estimated time of completion. They should also be updated at regular intervals to make sure that the work in on the estimated time.Poor CommunicationPoor Communication is the 3rd reason for project failure. Due to poor communication between the managers and developers, the developers are not aware of the work to be done by them, which may result in delay. As this important information is not divided up between team members, the progress of the project is also not known. trying to avoid communication between team members to avoid irrelevant views between them may result in project failure. sometimes the programmers are not allowed to give their opinion about the improvement of the project which is also a reason for project failure. This kind of poor communication between the manager and the team members hinders the progress of the project. This kind of poor communication should be avoided and the manager should take the necessary steps to overcome this chore for the success of the project.ConsequencesThe preserve of this reason for project failure is very severe. It will fall the cost of development, affect the schedule and functionality. If the communication is poor it may lead to inefficient product development.SuggestionCommunication is very important between the team members, the management and the stakeholders for the project succes s. Since poor communication can lead to severe losses to a project I would suggest that manager should regularly communicate with the team regarding the project progress. This will help the manager to keep a track on the ongoing progress and also make sure that the team has understood all the requirements properly and avoid conflicting views between the members. And all the members will know their role in the project olibanum avoiding unnecessary work. Communication with the stakeholder will also help the stakeholder to know about the progress of the project and to know if the project is going as per the requirements.Scope CreepScope Creep gives the overall view of the final governing body to be delivered. Scope suck up happens due to increase in the scope of the project during development. Often it is seen that the manager or the customer wants to add more functionality to the system darn it is being developed. analogous if a scholar record system is developed for the subjects taken and scores of the students by semester. But then the customer wants to add personal details and fees structure for each course. This will increase the scope of the system as the new functionality is involve to be added a dour with the old requirements. This will affect the schedule of the project. Many times it happens that the customer susceptibility change the requirement at regular intervals or might require change as they are not contented with the existing system resulting in scope creep.ConsequenceThe here and now of this is very severe. As the requirements of the system change it will increase the cost of development and even affect the project schedule.SuggestionScope creep should be avoided as it may lead to major project failure or unnecessary delay in the project deliverable. This can be avoided by getting all the requirements from the user at the start of the project and even the priority in which the requirements need to be fulfilled. The cost and the time of delivery should be documented as per the present requirements. So any change will affect the cost and time should be told to the customer and everything should be documented.Inappropriate StaffingInappropriate staffing is another reason for project failure. The manager needs to find the right-hand(a) state for the job. Many times on that point are programmers who lack the required experience in the technology and are not qualified enough for that job. It also happens that the managers hired or allocated to a project dont have enough experience in handling much(prenominal) a huge task or dont have enough practiced knowledge. These programmers and managers are hired simply to keep the cost of development low. So it is very important to get the right set of people to work on the project, who are experienced enough and can work tumefy in a team for project to be no-hit. Many times it may happen that a member of the team or a high level manager might leave the job, which may affe ct the project schedule. Many times it happens that resources are not allocated properly while shows inefficiency in work, thus delaying the project schedule. This business has been a major bother with all the companies.ConsequencesThis will have an impact on the project schedule as every time new resources are allocated, it will charter time to understand and complete task.SuggestionTo overcome the problem of contrasted staffing the management must hire the right set of people for the required task who are efficient enough for the job. They must have a well balanced team and people who work well as a team and appreciate each other to achieve the bigger goal of successful project completion.Lack of user InvolvementUser involvement is very important for any project to succeed. If the user is not involved in the project development by continuously communication with the project manager, it may result in a project failure. Many times it happens that the user doesnt know how to us e the system as the user is not much involved in the working of the system. The developers get the requirements from the user but the users are not actively participating in the excogitation mannequin, requirement analysis phase, scrutiny phase or the users are changing the requirements which may lead to delay in the project schedule and might not meet all the user requirements. Many times it is seen that the user will specify the requirements and then wait for the final product. Due to this the users sometimes dont get the expected functionality or they might not be well-known(prenominal) with the system which may result in a lot of time wasted in learning the system.ConsequenceThe consequence of this is medium effect. on that point can be a lot of change in the functionality as the user is not aware of the system working till the end. It may also increase the cost of the project and schedule as the user will take a lot of time to get beaten(prenominal) with the system.Sugges tionTo overcome this problem of lack of user involvement, the user should actively participate in all the phases of project development. The user should be anxious(predicate) to learn the system before it is put live and hence should be trained to use the system. This will help the user to get beaten(prenominal) with the system and will also be able to test the system for all the features that are expected of the system.Poor PlanningPlanning is the most important part of any project. If the project is well mean it will be completed on time and within schedule, resulting in success with all the requirements full filled. Project plan defines the objectives of the project and the goals to be achieved. The project plan contains the amount of resources required, the cost of development and the deliverable schedule. It helps in knowing what is to be done and what resources are required in which area of the project. Sometimes it is seen that the manager doesnt have much time to make a p roject plan due to time constrain from the senior management due to which execution starts before the project plan is completed. This will hinder the project schedule as the flow of project development will not be clear. Many times it happens that project activities are dependent upon the preceding activities completion but in case of poor proviso this will get affected. This will result in the increase in the project development cost and increase the deliverable schedule.ConsequencesThe effect of poor formulation is very severe. It will have an impact on the project development cost, incomplete requirements and will also affect the schedule.SuggestionTo avoid the problem of poor supply, the management should make sure that the project is well planned with all the resources, phases of development, cost estimation and the schedule of delivery before the implementation starts. Then at regular intervals it should be check if everything is going as planned, so that any kind of prob lem can be taken care of right away before its too late.Poor interrogatoryPoor exam plays an important role in project being a failure. Developers do test the project after the coding is done but it is the duty of the user to do an acceptance test to know if the system meets the requirements. But sometimes this testing fails as the requirements are poor enough to be well-tried. The user is unaware of the importance of this testing. It also happens that the user is not trained enough to test the system resulting in a poor test. Many times it is seen that the development phase takes so long that there is no time for testing, due to which it is avoided. So the user should be encouraged to do the acceptance testing so that the user is comfortable with the developed system.ConsequencesThe result of poor testing is that not very heavy. If the testing fails, then the development team will have to do a lot of rework on the failed areas. This will increase the cost and delay in project de liverable time.SuggestionTo make sure that testing is done properly the project should be well human bodyed and planned. If the project is to be delivered in modules, then every module should be tested which is very useful as all the functionality is checked at the end of each module. This help in avoiding the entire system test at the end of the project, since most of the modules are tested as they were completed. Then the user should be trained to use the system so that they can do a proper test of the system. This can help in overcoming the problem of poor testing.View PointThe analyses shown above are based on my research about various reasons for project failure and their consequences. From my research on the above I analyzed and suggested that all of the above reasons are important and should be taken in to consideration during the life of project development as they have equal effect on success of a project or its failure. I think that most projects fail due to vague require ments, poor planning and inappropriate staffing.Making sure that all the requirements are properly gathered is the first step in any project development process. If the requirements are not properly gathered then it may lead to problems down the line during development. I have observed that many times due to time constraint or not clear requirements the development phase is started considering that once a working model is ready then all the left out requirements can be handled but this is the biggest mistake made as it will require a lot of rework and increase the cost of development. Many times vague requirements force the developers to make a functionality that is actually not required thus wasting of time and resources results in a lot of rework.Poor planning is also a factor for project failures. Due to vague requirements the planning done is also poor resulting in project failure. Planning phase comes after requirements gathering phase. In this phase all the details about the p roject development, the resources required, the cost of development, the time schedule of deliverable project split or whole are decided. This phase takes a good amount of time as the whole project development is planned in this phase, so if the planning is poor, it may lead the project down the cumulation instead of up. So during the planning phase all the aspects of development should be taken into consideration by the developers and managers.Another problem which is faced by most of the companies is of inappropriate staffing. A project team should have the right combination of people. People, who are experienced, can work well in a team. Generally managers try to cut the cost of development by hiring people who are less experienced with the kind of project to be developed and even inexperience in using the technology being used. This will affect the project schedule. Many times it happens that a manager or team member leaves the project due to work pressure as they are kept to do parts in many projects. Due to this the project is delayed and a lot of time is lost in training the new member. So managers should chose the right people for the team and also the members should be dedicated to a particular project.Many times I have seen that there are dependencies between teams during a project development. Like now a days there is outsourcing where in the design and testing is done by one team and the coding is sent to another team. So whenever there is a change in the functionality or the design the coding team seating elsewhere are given the changes resulting in a lot of rework which relatively affects the project schedule. Many times there is miscommunication between the teams working in different modules so changes in one module is not conveyed to the other resulting in errors during the testing phase. So there should be proper communication between teams and regular updates should be given to all the teams working on the project to avoid any error at late r stage of the project. And other than these all the other factors should be taken into consideration by the management for a successful project.Lessons LearntFrom my research on project failures I learnt that project management is the most important aspect for any projects success. From research on this topic I learnt that over the years this problem has haunted the software industry but still the management has not learnt from the previous mistakes. All the reasons shown above are very critical and can lead to project failure if not handled with care. Manager must also focus on the team development for any project as it the overall team effort that makes the project successful and not an individual.ConclusionThe research gives an insight into various reasons of software project failure. These reasons have been experienced by every manager in the industry and so now companies have started focusing on proper management of the projects.Referenceshttp//www.coleyconsulting.co.uk/failur e.htmhttp//ezinearticles.com/?Causes-Of-Software-Project-Failureid=453814http//www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/feb06/marasco/http//www.docstoc.com/docs/24462435/Why-Projects-Fail-Graphhttp//www.projectsmart.co.uk/why-software-projects-fail.htmlhttp//www.projectperfect.com.au/info_it_projects_fail.phphttp//ezinearticles.com/?Causes-Of-Software-Project-Failureid=453814http//74.125.155.132/search?q=cacherpsupt-SPl0Jwww.tier1performance.com/content/features/mets_files/MajorCausesofSoftwareProjectFailures.pdf+reasons+for+software+project+failurecd=3hl=enct=clnkgl=ushttp//www.computerworld.com/s/article/71209/Why_Projects_Failhttp//knapton.blogspot.com/2007/05/why-do-software-projects-fail.htmlhttp//www.adaptivepartners.com/projfailb.htmhttp//portal.acm.org.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/citation.cfm?id=1370099.1370100coll=portaldl=ACMCFID=12421101CFTOKEN=86551462