Failures in software project management – are we alone? A comparison with construction industry

Authors

  • João Eduardo Varajão Centro ALGORITMI Department of Information Systems University of Minho, Portugal Portugal
  • Caroline Elisabeth Domingues Department of Engineering University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Portugal
  • Pedro Abreu Ribeiro Centro ALGORITMI Department of Information Systems University of Minho, Portugal Portugal
  • Anabela Correia de Paiva Centro C-MADE Department of Engineering University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Portugal

Keywords:

Project, management, success, software, construction

Abstract

Unfortunately software development projects have long been identified with budget complications, delays and failure concerning scope. The widely quoted CHAOS Reports of the Standish Group, whose first results were released in 1994, find that while this situation has improved, deviations from the plan continue to be present in a majority of projects. In this paper we study the current state of success in software development projects, contrasting their results with those of civil engineering projects. The obtained results showed the relative success that has been achieved in the industries studied in terms of meeting deadlines, budgets and scope. Although differences do exist, several similarities were found.

Author Biographies

  • João Eduardo Varajão, Centro ALGORITMI Department of Information Systems University of Minho, Portugal Portugal

    João Varajão is currently professor of information systems and software programming at the University of Minho and a visiting professor at the University of Porto Business School. He is also a researcher of the Algoritmi research center. Born and raised in Portugal, he attended the University of Minho, earning his Undergraduate (1995), Masters (1997) and Doctorate (2003) degrees in Technologies and Information Systems. In 2012, he received his Habilitation degree from the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro. His current main research interests are in Information Systems Management and Project Management. Before joining academia, he worked as an IT/IS consultant, project manager, information systems analyst and software developer, for private companies and public institutions. He has supervised more than 50 Masters and Doctoral dissertations in the Information Systems field. He has published over 250 works, including refereed publications, authored books, edited books, as well as book chapters and communications at international conferences. He serves as editor-in-chief, associate editor and member of the editorial board for international journals and has served in numerous committees of international conferences and workshops. He is co-founder of CENTERIS - Conference on ENTERprise Information Systems and ProjMAN - International Conference on Project MANagement.

  • Caroline Elisabeth Domingues, Department of Engineering University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Portugal

    Caroline Dominguez is a professor at the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro in Portugal since 1995, where she lectures business management. Her main research interest lies in development and educational issues, project and quality management and human resources management. Before pursuing an academic career, she was the head manager of organizations dealing with development issues in Peru and Portugal, where she developed and implemented various international funded projects.

  • Pedro Abreu Ribeiro, Centro ALGORITMI Department of Information Systems University of Minho, Portugal Portugal

    Pedro Ribeiro is assistant professor at the Department of Information Systems, at Minho University, where he teaches software project management and software engineering. He is member of IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis) and SEMAG (Software Engineering and Management Group) and vowel of CT128 (Portuguese Technical Commission for Software Engineering and Information Systems). His scientific interests include project management, software requirements management and software quality. He is external consultant in software development organizations, for process improvement, software requirements and project management

  • Anabela Correia de Paiva, Centro C-MADE Department of Engineering University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal Portugal

    Anabela Paiva is Associate Professor of the Department of Engineering of the School of Sciences and Technology of the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), since 2002.Born in 1961, in Porto, Portugal. Degree in Civil Engineering, at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), Portugal, 1984. MSc in Building Construction, FEUP, Portugal, 1991. PhD in Civil Engineering, at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom, January 1996. Member of the staff of UTAD, since 1986. Has been chosen to integrate the group that launched the Civil Engineering Degree at UTAD, and was director of the degree, several times being the last time from 2009 to 2013. Coordinator of the area of Building Construction of the Civil Engineering Degree of UTAD (1994 - ...). Integrated the group that launched the Construction Observatory of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, UTAD, 2000. Director of the observatory. Has been developing research mainly in the fields of quality, thermal performance and energy efficiency of buildings.

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Published

2022-05-20

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2014): The Journal of Modern Project Management

Section

Articles-JMPM

License

Copyright (c) 2022 João Eduardo Varajão, Caroline Elisabeth Domingues, Pedro Abreu Ribeiro, Anabela Correia de Paiva

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Failures in software project management – are we alone? A comparison with construction industry. (2022). The Journal of Modern Project Management, 2(1). https://journalmodernpm.com/manuscript/index.php/jmpm/article/view/149

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