chapter 3 we discussed factors contributing to abandoned software projects. For any particular project, it is conceivable that only some of the factors will coalesce to cause failure or abandonment. However, finding the critical combination of factors that may be responsible for the project's demise is essential if the organization is to learn from its problems and thus have a chance of avoiding their potential repetition in future projects. The science and experience of the software development process must be cumulative, or we will be cursed to continually chapter 3 that are potential contributors to project abandonment decisions can serve as a rallying point in the search for underlying problems. Specifically, in the structured interview the postabandonment review should seek to elicit information on
Project goals and objectives
Project leadership and involvement of senior management in the project
Project-team composition, and coordination and communication among the team members and/or groups
Project management and control from requirements definition to the stage in the life cycle when the project was canceled
Allocation of resources such as personnel, money, technology, and time/schedule for the project
Degree of involvement and cooperation of user groups in the project
Technological infrastructure issues of the organization that have particular relevance to the project
Technical expertise and experience of the development team and the project leadership
Using the open-ended interview approach to elicit the views of the project participants will produce beneficial information, which can be utilized in conjunction with other data collection methods to piece together the multiplicity of factors possibly responsible for the project's demise.The survey questionnaire can concentrate on a broad-brush approach to data collection, focusing on the fundamental factors of socioorganizational, behavioral, and political issues, the sociotechnical and technological issues, and economic issues such as project costs and the time-of-completion schedules. In fact, the archival data may be a valuable source of the less subjective information on project costs and schedules at any phase of the development life cycle.Until now we have been silent on who should be the designated investigator charged with the responsibility of helping the organization learn from its project failure. The issue of the chief investigator should be handled with the utmost care and sensitivity to convey a sense of objectivity and constructive fact finding, as opposed to an interest in assigning blame or finding fault with individual project team members. No single individual, with the possible exception of the project leader, is capable of single-handedly causing a project to be canceled. The selection of the chief investigator, either from within or outside the organization but with the definite exception of project team members, must be seen and appear to be seen by all concerned as impartial, without any hidden agendas or biases and with the sole objective of determining the multiplicity of factors responsible for the project's failure. The chief investigator must be promised full cooperation by all concerned, from senior management and technical personnel to users, and must be given access to all archival documents needed to successfully carry out the investigation. Through this painful process of soul searching, the organization is likely to recoup some of its investments in the failed project and to learn to do better the next time around on a similar or even on a different project.
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