On software project failures

Software projects fail a lot. And since software is on most modern equipments (read carefully: almost everywhere) most equipments will also fail when running faulty software produced by some of those projects. This is one of the reasons current systems (meaning hardware + software) will also fail a lot.

How much do software projects fail? It's an interesting question and here are some possible "answers":

• The CHAOS report: https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/white-papers/chaos-report.pdf
• The Ambysoft "2013 IT Project Success Rates Survey Results": http://www.ambysoft.com/surveys/success2013.html
• The final presentation of the latter: http://www.ambysoft.com/downloads/surveys/Success2013.pptx

The latter study, published on Dr. Dobbs (which is now inactive BTW), criticizes the CHAOS report. On any case, a good percentage of projects fail and / or are challenged (they do not meet the on-quality, on-budget, on-schedule initial criteria). Just look at the trailer, I mean, just look at the numbers.