CrossTalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering. Volume 19, Number 6
Abstract
"Social and Technical Reasons for Software Project Failures," by Capers Jones -- Applying a careful program of risk analysis and risk abatement can lower the effects of the technical and social issues that handicap projects and lower the probability of major software disasters. "What We've Got Here Is...Failure to Communicate," by Alan C. Jost -- The failure to communicate is the root problem of more program failures than we allow ourselves to believe. This article uses the famous line from the movie "Cool Hand Luke," "What we've got here is...failure to communicate," to illustrate communication failures and successes. "Knowledge: The Core Problem of Project Failure," by Timothy K. Perkins -- This author contends that knowledge is the most common cause of project failures: either project managers do not have enough of it, or they are not using the knowledge they do have correctly. "Start With 'Simple' Earned Value on All Your Projects," by Quentin W. Fleming and Joel M. Koppelman -- The authors show that by only implementing 10 of the 32 American National Standards Institute/Electronic Industries Alliance's criteria to all projects, Earned Value Management can be achieved. "Statistical Methods Applied to EVM: The Next Frontier," by Walt Lipke -- Earned Value Management (EVM) has brought science to management projects, and this article describes the elements necessary for performing statistical analysis in association with EVM. "Defining Short and Usable Processes," by Timothy G. Olson -- This article describes common problems with process documentation, discusses best practices for defining short and usable processes and procedures, describes success stories in real organizations, and provides some lessons learned. "Should Your Projects' Leaders Be on Springer?" by Paul Kimmerly -- This article draws parallels between the outrageous events on the Jerry Springer Show and problems faced by process improvement programs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA487371
Entities
People
- Alan C. Jost
- Capers Jones
- Joel M. Koppelman
- Paul Kimmerly
- Quentin W. Fleming
- Timothy G. Olson
- Timothy K. Perkins
- Walt Lipke