Chapter 5: Technical Factors and Abandoned Projects - Software Development Failures [Electronic resources] : Anatomy of Abandoned Projects نسخه متنی

Chapter 5: Technical Factors and Abandoned Projects

chapter 4 we discussed the crucial role of socioorganizational factors in shaping the product outcome in software development. In this chapter we discuss the variety of technical and technological issues that can negatively affect software project outcomes. By technical, I specifically mean the general level of expertise and depth chapter 4), which teach major lessons about the pitfalls of software development. Finally, we discuss the impact each technical factor has on the stages of software development using the framework presented in chapter 3.

Technical Issues in Abandoned Projects

The investigation of the technical and technological issues that have significant influence on project outcome is based on an analysis of the data from the Fortune 500 study discussed in chapter 4, and the project cases that we use to illustrate the major contributions of the technical factors discussed in the abandonment framework described in chapter 3. I will deal first with the data analysis, which is based on the factored data from the Fortune 500 study described in chapter 4, the details of which can be found in Ewusi-Mensah and Przasnyski 1994. In table 4.10, and use these as the basis for the analysis. The primary issues that comprise this factor category are technical and technological infrastructure, and technical expertise. Let us examine each issue in turn to determine its significance in project-abandonment decisions.

Technical and technological infrastructure encompasses issues of great importance to the development process, because they are at the core of the organization's ability to produce the required software. Factor F4 raises two major issues: a lack of available technical and technological infrastructure on which the project critically depends, and technical problems pertaining to project feasibility and to compatibility with existing hardware and software. Together these issues constitute the "technical and technological inadequacies and shortcomings" that may cause a project to be abandoned. During the design stage of systems development, technical issues dealing with the trade-off of available options to achieve the design objectives are necessarily constrained by the existing hardware and software infrastructure in the organization, or by what can reasonably be expected to be obtained from outside. However, if the implementation is based on a design for which the existing technological resources in the organization are inadequate, it is conceivable that the project will collapse. Similarly, if the project experiences technical problems with respect to its feasibility or its compatibility with existing hardware and/or software, it is equally likely that it may fail if the problems are not speedily and satisfactorily corrected. Indeed, as was argued from the study data, these "findings indicate that even in situations where the project is below cost and time of completion estimates, once deficiencies in the technological issues of the project are uncovered, which cannot be rectified, the project may eventually be terminated" (Ewusi-Mensah and Przasnyski 1994, 194).

Technical expertise deals specifically with the know-how and capabilities of the personnel engaged in the software development. In factor F2, these issues are directly addressed, because the factor elements that constitute F2 deal with the technical capabilities of the project team. For example, one of the factor elements states that "project implementation depended on level of technical expertise lacking in organization." That is, project abandonment is highly likely if an organization undertakes a chapter 2 generally support the finding that software projects are highly vulnerable to failure as a consequence of inadequate technical expertise and/or technological infrastructure.