In-House Software Development: What Project Management Practices Lead to Success?

  • Authors:

  • June M. Verner;William M. Evanco

  • Affiliations:

  • National ICT Australia;Drexel University

  • Venue:
  • IEEE Software
  • Year:
  • 2005

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Abstract

A survey examined the software development practices of a number of software practitioners in large businesses that are involved almost exclusively with in-house software development. The results indicate that for a successful project, the project manager needs a clear vision of the project, requirements must be of good quality, and estimates should be made only after the appropriate requirements have been identified. On projects that fail, many recognized software practices arenýt being applied. Most projects in the survey began with unclear requirements. Risk management isnýt routinely a part of development, and the organizations arenýt learning from their mistakes because they donýt routinely perform postmortem reviews. Also, senior management appears to lack an appreciation of the steps necessary to successfully execute a project.