Statistics for the Software Project Industry
Over the past several years, many studies have been undertaken to measure the effectiveness of the software project industry. These studies have been performed by both the government and respected IT analysis and research organizations. Below is a representative sample of their findings.
The Standish Group
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88% of projects are past deadline, over budget, or both
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31% of projects are canceled before completion
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The average cost overrun is 189%
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The average schedule slippage is 222%
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Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie-Mellon University
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80% of IT projects are delivered late and over budget
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30% of IT projects fail
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The Gartner Group
"A failure to anticipate and plan for resistance to change causes many projects to fall short - even when completed on-time, on-budget."
Patterns of Software Systems Failure and Success by Capers Jones
Between one third and two thirds of software projects will exceed their schedule and budgets targets. Nearly half will be deemed "out of control" and canceled.
General Accounting Office (GAO)
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> 50% of contracts had cost overruns
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> 60% of contracts had schedule overruns
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> 45% of SW could not be used
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> 29% of SW was never delivered
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> 19% of SW had to be reworked
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~ 3% of SW had to be modified
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< 2% of SW was usable as delivered
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