Many software projects have different degrees of failures and some of them may even fail completely. This could happen because these projects could be consisted of many smaller goals with their own unique requirements. These requirements could be related to quality standard, schedule, cost limitations and others. According to many studies, the possibility of failure in project development could happen the more elements we add into the equation. In fact, the probability of failure could jump as high as 80 percent if the amount of requirements is excessive. A software development project could also fail if we don’t recognize proper engineering principles that should be applied. Many developers tend to defend themselves by arguing that that have “unique” software construction process; but in essence; any software development project has plenty of similarities.
One of the biggest problems is our inability to accurately estimate acceptable scheduling, resources and costs needed to complete a software development project. The conventional assessment methods should produce positive results if possible to prevent schedule slippage and cost overruns. Many schedule and cost estimation techniques couldn’t assess proper models due to limitation in data. This could be cause by the lack of understanding in a software development process.
It is also clear that successful IT project depends on an effective leadership. Just like any leader, IT development leaders should also have the ability to develop human resources, ability to delegate, creativity, communication skills and cultural sensitivity. Although culture clash may take place, managers should always try to introduce proper creative thoughts.
Employees may also feel that the management hardly listen to their concerns and they make no attempt to solve them. If the problem proceeds long enough, it is possible for employees to feel less motivated with the project and in some cases, they are more eager to leave the project.
With project planning, we should be able to achieve more work breakdown and managers will be able to allocate responsibilities more effectively to team members over time. Project planning could be consisted of various pathways, timelines and various tasks. Allocation of responsibilities and roles should be defined clearly and it could become crucial if we need more than a few dozen employees to complete a particularly large project. It means, proper scheduling is a necessity before we start the project. This may include both teams and time scheduling. Bad project managers don’t about details of the schedule and plan. They may only tell programmers about the goal and they ask programmers to look for proper solutions.
In some cases, a new development project needs to be moved to a different office location and this could become a problem if there’s no proper infrastructure and the office isn’t fully equipped. Time can also be essential in failure or success of a project. Much delayed milestones could be a step towards a complete project failure. The team may not know how the development process should start. Another huge secret of having a successful software development project is by trying to reduce risks, as well as finding ways to control the overall quality.
