Software development failures : anatomy of abandoned projects / Kweku Ewusi-Mensah.
2003
QA76.76.D47 E88 2003eb
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Details
Title
Software development failures : anatomy of abandoned projects / Kweku Ewusi-Mensah.
Author
Ewusi-Mensah, Kweku.
ISBN
9780262256087 (electronic bk.)
0262256088 (electronic bk.)
0585480834 (electronic bk.)
9780585480831 (electronic bk.)
9780262050722
0262050722
0262256088 (electronic bk.)
0585480834 (electronic bk.)
9780585480831 (electronic bk.)
9780262050722
0262050722
Publication Details
Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, ©2003.
Language
English
Description
1 online resource (xiv, 276 pages)
Call Number
QA76.76.D47 E88 2003eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
005.1
Summary
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.
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