Over the years, QSM metrics research has been adding new data on an ongoing basis into an industry-wide projects database. Trends have been plotted over time, and, recently, a story emerged about how we transitioned through the millennium. Something major has been happening.
Complexity is clearly at an all-time high.
Companies have churned staff, the industry had to deal with Y2000, the Web happened in a big way, and new architectures were thrust on IT organizations at a rapid rate. There was a lot to handle. Given the huge changes, this is not surprising. These latest developments reversed a 15-year productivity trend, so we believe the downturn is temporary. There is also good news in that quality levels are way up.