Abstract:
Software development projects are considered as a unique entity in terms
of project management due to the inherent attributes they encapsulate,
thus making them distinct and susceptible to failure. Therefore, the
importance of software project risk management is emphasized where the
identification of the factors which affect software development projects to
fail being the main component. This survey-based study focuses on
identifying the factors that affect software development failures and the
causes of these factors in Sri Lankan software development companies.
Twenty-seven factors affecting software development failures were
identified using a stringent scientific methodology and were tested to
ascertain their validity, importance and the causes in terms of the Sri
Lankan context using an interview based questionnaire. Twenty-five
software development companies which belong to the software exporters‟
association were selected for data collection, and the gathered data were
analyzed to ascertain the significance to the defined objectives using
statistical tools. Misunderstanding of user requirements, poor project
management skills of managers, and the lack of communication between
the members of the software development team were identified as the top
three factors affecting software development failures in Sri Lanka, while
the lack of proper communication between the development team and the
customer, poor project management knowledge of managers, and lack of
proper planning were identified as the main phenomena which cause
these factors to originate in software development projects in Sri Lanka.
