Chapter 1. Managing Software Projects

Worldwide, some half a million project managers execute about a million software projects each year, producing software worth $600 billion. Many of these projects fail to fulfill customers' quality expectations or fail to deliver the software within budget and on schedule. One analysis suggests that about one-third of projects have cost and schedule overruns of more than 125%.1

Why do so many software projects fail? Although there are many reasons, one of the most important is improper management of the project. For example, the major reasons for runaways (projects that are out of control) are unclear objectives, bad planning, new technology, a lack of a project management methodology, and insufficient staff. ...

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