An investigation into the critical success factors of software development process, time, and quality

Statement of the problem. Software projects take too long, run over budget, do not meet the customer requirements, and, in many cases, are canceled well into the developmental life cycle. The software industry is in chaos. The software-development problem is pervasive. Several surveys have found that about two-thirds of all projects substantially overrun their estimates. Software is getting more common and more important, but it doesn't seem to be getting more reliable. Research design and methodology. This research investigated the causes for software project failures, the strategies that have been effective in reducing or eliminating these failures, and the critical success factors that are most commonly used by successful software companies in improving their software-development process, time, and quality. The study addresses the following research questions: (1) What major factors cause software projects to fail? (2) What strategies might be or have been effective in reducing or eliminating software project failures? (3) What are the critical success factors that lead to successful development of software projects in software development organizations? To complete the study, 10 successful companies were carefully selected and 11 experts interviewed during a span of 18 months. The researcher selected these companies because of their product line, services offered, and their market leadership. The majority of these companies have profitable sales and revenues, innovation, and a strong presence and market leadership in their own segments. The research design employed in this research is descriptive and uses a qualitative approach. To accomplish this methodology, the researcher designed semistructured interviews to explore the following questions: How do these companies address software project failure issues? What processes do they have in place? What is their killer strategy? What is executive management's role? How do they motivate employees to produce the best quality software products? What infrastructure do they have in place for innovations? And, finally, how do they manage such innovations? Findings. This research provided an excellent opportunity to learn from the experts in the leading software organizations about the issues surrounding softwaredevelopment projects and the critical success factors they have in place for successful completion and deployment of their software projects. The high rate of participation from executive, senior management, and senior staff with technical expertise made the results of this research revealing. The researcher has concluded that there are 15 critical success factors that can positively impact any world-class software development organization in pursuit of predictable and repeatable software development activities and, therefore, market leadership and profitability. The recommended critical success factors are (1) Defined Product Development Life Cycle (PDLC); (2) Executive management support through PDLC; (3) User involvement at the early stages of development; (4) Strong project management; (5) Small and miniature project milestones; (6) Clear statement of requirements; (7) Realistic expectations on the product and development schedule; (8) Proper resource- and strategic-level planning; (9) Competent, trained, and focused work force; (10) Ownership at all levels; (11) Clear vision and objectives; (12) Software development and engineering practices; (13) Well-defined processes; (14) Software estimation; (15) Independent verification and validation.