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Motivation for the Book and Readership
The motivation for this book was a desire to understand the causes of the software crises. Many authors have pointed to the existence of these crises. McFarlan (1981), in an article outlining a portfolio approach to IS development in organizations published in the Harvard Business Review, provided anecdotal evidence of the extent of the problem. He documented the cost overruns and schedule delays of even well-structured and routine systems development projects such as payroll projects in established companies. Glaser (1984, 45) offered further support for McFarlan's claims, when he reported in an article dealing with the management of computer projects that "in the computer industry … [project] objectives are missed and schedule and cost targets overrun with distressing regularity and, at times with equally distressing results." But a search for published empirical studies on the problem yielded no results. Consequently, in the late 1980s I undertook a comprehensive research effort to empirically examine the nature and extent of the problem in both public and private organizations. Since then a number of books have been published on the subject, but they have all dealt with specific cases of project failures (Glass 1998; Flowers 1997; Yourdon 1997; Sauer 1993). In the 1990s various studies of an empirical nature were published that shed more light on the widespread nature of the problem and showed the extent of organizational resources consumed by failed projects (Ewusi-Mensah and Przasnyski 1991, 1994, 1995; Ewusi-Mensah 1997; Johnson 1995; OASIG 1996; Cole 1995; Standish Group 1995, 1998). But more attention to the root causes of the project failures is needed.
By focusing on the underlying causes of the software crises, this book tries to fill this gap. I attempt to convey in one volume what I have learned thus far from the published empirical literature, and what that literature says about management and organizational issues in particular. The book does not address issues of systems failure after their implementation in organizations. Lucas's book Why Information Systems Fail (1975) provides an early window into the problem of implementation, which he determined from his analysis of a "large amount of data" to be primarily "organizational behavior patterns" (p. 2). I believe that an understanding of the socioorganizational and managerial cofactors that cause abandonment may provide additional insights into the process of software development and may help minimize the future incidence of software project development failures.
The book is primarily addressed to software developers in industry and academia. I believe software practitioners will benefit from the discussion and analysis of the root causes of software project failures covered in this book. For students of software engineering at all levels, the book offers a picture of the plurality and diversity of factors involved in software development, outside of the technical "prescriptive and deterministic" view of software development typically covered in the software engineering and computer science curriculums. This will hopefully provide students with a broader perspective and appreciation of the complexity of the cofactors that are the real bane of software development projects. Such exposure early in their professional training will better prepare students to tackle software development projects in their careers. I believe that the comprehensive analysis the book provides of the factors that make for successful software projects will give professional software developers a deeper appreciation of the complexities of software development as well as insight into improved ways of handling these factors at different stages of the development process. Over time, as software developers learn from the failure factors discussed in this book, the art and practice of software development may be improved industrywide. The secondary audience for the book consists of senior management and executives responsible for software development projects. Senior managers need to be aware of the nontechnical issues associated with management matters in software development and of the role they can play in minimizing the risk of software development failures in their organizations.
