Success Failure Rate of SDPM

The Standish “Chaos” report – 2004 shows:

1. Successful Projects: 29%
2. Cancelled projects cost $55 Billion Annually?
3. Failed Projects: 18%
Tata Consultancy 2007 - Report
4. 62% of organizations experienced IT projects that failed to
meet their schedules
5. 49% suffered from budget overruns
6. 47% had higher-than-expected maintenance costs
7. 41% failed to deliver the expected business value and ROI
8. 33% fail to perform against expectations
 Standish Findings By Year Updated for 2009
45%

40%

35%

30%

25%
Figure in %

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%
1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2009
 Results from CHAOS research for years 2004 to 2012.
The 2012 CHAOS Result
1. Successful Projects (delivered on time, on budget, with
required features and functions): 39%
2. Challenged (late, over budget, and/or with less than the
required features and functions): 43%
3. Failed (cancelled prior to completion or delivered and never
used) : 18%
2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
Successful 29% 35% 32% 37% 39%
Failed 18% 19% 24% 21% 18%
Challenged 53% 46% 44% 42% 43%
 Software project management
• Software project management is a sub-discipline of
project management in which software projects are
planned, monitored and controlled
• Concerned with activities involved in ensuring that
software is delivered on time and on schedule and in
accordance with the requirements of the organisations
developing and procuring the software.
• Project management is needed because software
development is always subject to budget and schedule
constraints that are set by the organisation developing the
software.
 Why software project management has to be
different and difficult
1. Software is developed or engineered, not manufactured
in a classical sense
– The concept of ‘raw material’ is nonexistent here. It is better
visualized as a process rather than a product.
– The ‘human element’ is extremely high in software development,
compared to manufacturing
– The development productivity is highly uncertain, even with
standard products, varying greatly with the skill of the developer.
– Development tools, techniques, standards, and procedures vary
widely across and within an organization.
– Quality problem in software development are very different from
those in manufacturing.
 Why software project management has to be
different and difficult
2. Software Development presents a job-shop environment.
– Here the product is custom built hence unique.
– It cannot be assembled from existing components.
– All the complexities of the job shop viz. The problem of
design, estimating, and scheduling is also present here.
– Human skill, the most important element in a job shop, is
also the most important element here.
– User requirements are not often conceived well enough;
therefore a piece of software undergoes many
modifications, before it is implemented satisfactorily.
– There is virtually no objective standards or measures by
which to evaluate the progress of software development.
– Testing a software is extremely difficult, as well as
expensive.
 Why software project management has to be
different and difficult
3. Time and effort for software development are hard to
estimate.
– Interesting work gets done at the expense of the dull (but
equally important) work. E.g. documentation, being a dull
work, gets the least priority
– Doing job in a clever way tends to be more important
consideration than getting it done adequately; on time, at
reasonable cost.
– Programmers tend to be optimistic, not realistic and their
time estimate for the task completion reflects this tendency.
– Programmers have trouble communicating
 Why software project management has to be
different and difficult
4. Software does not wear out.
– Will not lose its functionality with use. May lose its functionality due to change in
user requirements.
– Defects are removed by rewriting the relevant code, not by replacing with the
available code. When defects are removed it is very likely that new defects are
introduced
– Hardware has a physical model to use in evaluating design decisions. Software design
evaluations, are on the other hand, rests on judgment and intuition.
– Hardware because of its physical implementation has a practical bound on complexity,
software on the other hand, can be highly complex and still confirms to almost any set
of needs
– Software cost outstripping hardware cost. S/W maintenance cost has surpassed the
hardware cost.
– Time and cost overrun is a common problem. Lack of transparency and hard to
maintain
– S/W is often less than adequate. Often does not satisfy the end user
– Productivity of s/w people has not improved with the demand for their services.
– Progress on software development is difficult to measure.
– Standardization not possible due to lack of data
– How a person works during software development is not yet understood
 The software management spectrum
The 4 P’s
• People — the most important element of a successful
project. E.g. Stakeholders, Software team, Team leader,
Agile teams, Coordination and communication issues
• Product — the software to be built. E.g. Scope, product
decomposition
• Process — the set of framework activities and software
engineering tasks to get the job done. E.g. Melding
product and process, Process decomposition
• Project — all work required to make the product a
reality
 Keys to Successful Projects
1. Top management support : A project needs a committed sponsor
throughout, who must encourage the same commitment from
other stakeholders as well as participation in the decision-making
process.
2. A sound methodology: A systematic method to evaluate return,
need, scope and development (planning, scheduling and
monitoring, feedback- control mechanism)
3. Customer / User: involvement by all appropriate users should
occur in all phases of system development
4. Requirement: A clear understanding of the problem to be solved
assists in well-defined requirements, and is essential to the
development of a successful system
5. Estimation and schedule: Optimistic estimation of time and cost is
one of the most common causes of software project failures.
 Keys to Successful Projects
6. Project manager / Staff : Solid technical leadership by someone
who has successfully completed a similar project. Competent and
have real-world experience in the technology domain, and in
similar systems in the past, and possesses good interpersonal &
communication skills
7. Software process management: It is framework of systems
process that the project team members would easily understand
and concept and objective.
8. Personnel : Team members may not be necessarily extremely
experienced skilled people – having honesty, collaborative
attitude, sense of responsibility, readiness to learn, and work with
others are considered equally important.
 Project stakeholders
• Project manager: Leads the project team, keeps
the project within time and monetary constraints
• Project sponsor: The individual/organisation that
funds the project
• Developers: Are the technical programmers
• Customers/Users: End users of the software who
need to be kept informed of developments
• External consultants: who “finalize” user
specifications as quickly as possible.
Interdependent Factors in Project Success

• Cost, Quality, Speed, Risk

• The above factors directly or indirectly related
to knowledge, skills, tools and techniques
used in the project development.
• Project Management Definition: is the
application of knowledge, skills, tools and
techniques, to project activities to meet
project requirement.
 Project Management Framework
9 Knowledge Areas Tools and
Core Functions techniques

Scope Time Cost Quality

Mgt. Mgt. Mgt. Mgt.

Project
Project Integration Management Success
Stakeholders’
needs and
expectations HR Comm. Risk Procure
Mgt. Mgt. Mgt. Mgt.
Facilitating Functions
Project Manager – Software Development

• Project Manager is crucial to a project’s

success and works with the project sponsors,
the project team and the other people
involved in a project to meet project goal.
 Jobs of Project Manager
• Project Management for a consulting firm: Plans,
schedules and controls the projects’ activities.
Coordinates and Integrates team, individual efforts
and build good relationship between stakeholders.
• IT Project Manager for an IT firm: Manages,
prioritizes, develops and implement IT solutions to
meet customers business needs.
• IT Project Manager for a non-profit consulting firm:
Analysis, requirements gathering, project planning,
budget estimating, development, testing and
implementation
 Expected Skills for Project Manager

• The project management body of knowledge

• Application area, knowledge, standards and
regulation
• Project environment knowledge
• General management knowledge and skills
• Soft skills or human relations skill
• Several methods, such as the
• Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO) and Constructive
• Cost Model-II (COCOMO-II), proposed by Boehm (1981)
• and Boehm et al. (1996), respectively; the PROxy-Based
• Estimation (PROBE) method through the adoption and
• utilisation of the Personal Software Process (PSP) by
• Humphrey (1995); Function Point Analysis; expert
• judgment method; Delphi technique; and also Wide Band
• Delphi technique by Boehm (1981), have been proposed
• and developed to support estimation procedures.