However, for today's high technology products which often require peak development staffs of 50 developers or more, it is extremely difficult to hire and retain the needed number of high-end developers. Teamwork and coordination are required. It is the software development process that coordinates the technology and people in order to get the job done. It is well documented in the manufacturing and TQM literature that the process has significant influence on the product which is developed. In the past, many companies have not focused on their development processes or on process improvement.
Process changes to the project present a risk.
With so many other things that are unstable about a project, such as requirements or technical feasibility, it is difficult for project managers to introduce one more level of complication and opportunity for things to go wrong. Process improvements can take a long time to return tangible benefits. Process improvement can be expensive. Process improvement does not always succeed. It can take considerable resources to initiate and maintain process improvement activities.