Stakeholder perceptions of software project outcomes: an industry case study

Date
2010-09-16
Authors
McLeod, L
MacDonell, SG
Supervisor
Item type
Conference Contribution
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Publisher
IEEE Computer Society Press
Abstract

Background: In spite of their limited scope, measures reflecting adherence to schedule, budget and specification continue to dominate the assessment and reporting of project outcomes.

Objective: We set out to explore how the parties involved in the acquisition and deployment of a self-contained software system viewed the project's outcomes, and the measures they considered.

Method: Large volumes of empirical data were collected as part of a longitudinal case study conducted in a large multi-national company and were analyzed using qualitative methods.

Results: While the conventional criteria remain of interest, the evidence reported here indicates that a richer set of contributors influence perceptions of project success and failure.

Conclusions: The evaluation of project outcomes needs to become far more sophisticated and, at the very least, other measures should be considered alongside traditional measures.

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Source
Presentation at the 4th International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement, Bolzano-Bozen, Italy and published in Proceeding ESEM '10 Proceedings of the 2010 ACM-IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement ACM New York, NY, USA
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