Chapter 1 broadly explains why issues of management and organization are still at the heart of software development. Chapter 2 expands on this analysis by examining the inherent characteristics of software that produce software development crises, despite the remarkable progress made in software development methods over the last several decades. Chapter 3 analyzes the traditional life-cycle method of software development, the challenges it poses in the development process, and its critical influence on project outcomes. To provide a perspective on the multidimensional nature of software project abandonment, the book presents a framework of factors that contribute to second part of the book examines the multiplicity of cofactors— organizational and managerial—that make software development a risky undertaking whose outcome often cannot be predetermined. The discussion covers the organizational, managerial, economic, and technical and technological problems at the root of the failed projects, and presents empirical data obtained through surveys of organizations. Chapter 4 deals with the set of empirically derived socioorganizational factors and problems arising in the development organization, which have the potential to derail software development projects. This is followed in chapter 5 by an enumeration of the technical and technological factors that may be at the core of abandoned software projects. Finally, chapter 6 explores the significance of economic issues that contribute to decisions to abandon projects. In each chapter, the empirical data are validated with analyses of actual reported cases of abandoned software projects in organizations. Chapter 7, the final chapter of this part, reveals the views of users—in a case study of an abandoned software development project in an electronics distribution company. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of users in the development process and on the organizational politics associated with the project development. Each chapter of this part of the book ends with an assessment of the significance of each factor to the different states of the software development process.The third part of the book puts forward lessons that project organizations can learn from the analyses of failed projects and shows how those lessons can be used to improve software development practices. Chapter 8 offers a learning paradigm. This paradigm is intended to encourage widespread learning and sharing of experiential knowledge about failed projects and to collectively improve the practice of software Chapter 9 provides a paradigm of software development that outlines some of the critical issues organizations must pay attention to during project development in order to maximize the chances of successful project outcomes. The discussion highlights the promise of the evolutionary approach to software development, which emphasizes modularization and intensive collaboration between developers and users, who provide constant feedback on early versions of the software. Published studies by MacCormack and colleagues (MacCormack 2001; MacCormack, Verganti, and Iansiti 2001) suggest that the evolutionary development methodology is particularly appropriate in development environments where the technology and the requirements for systems development are dynamic and unstable. Finally, chapter 10 examines the aftermath of project failures. It both elucidates the empirical factors that critically affect project outcomes and suggests ways decisions on project terminations should be handled to minimize damage to employees' and project teams' morale and to safeguard organizational resources for future projects. The book ends by focusing attention on telltale signs of problematic projects that need to be aggressively scrutinized by project developers and organizational executives.
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