Khaled E Emam and Akif G Koru (2008)
A Replicated Survey of IT Software Project Failure Rates
IEEE Software, 25(5):84-90.
Despite various reports coming from industry about the failure rates of software projects, there is still uncertainty about the actual figures. To obtain empirical evidence, we conducted a global web survey of the IT departments in 2005 and 2007. In this replicated study, our results showed that the cancellation rate was between 11.5 and 15.5 percent, not as high as many assume. We also found that project size was not associated with the cancellation rate but was associated with the ability to meet budget for the non-cancelled projects. Our results suggest that some elements of the case for a software crisis are perhaps exaggerated, and that a vast majority of software projects do deliver. We conclude that the major focus of attention should be the success criteria and performance of those projects that do deliver, irrespective of their size.
