Standish Group

Agile has been gaining momentum among software development methodologies for past decade or so. Various researches and surveys consistently show that software developed under an agile approach is generally better than the software developed under waterfall approaches.

For a long time, the ruler of project reports was Standish Group ’s (in)famous Chaos report, which analyzed IT project success/failure factors. While many of the Chaos report’s findings applied to ERP implementation, the report as a whole was primarily about software development projects.

According to Standish Group , top causes of failed IT project are these: lack of end-user engagement, unclear specification, changes in scope, lack of management support, lack of planning, unrealistic and unclear goals.

It’s a well known fact that IT projects fail every so often. Standish Group has been researching the success and failure factors of IT projects for a decade and a half, and they publish their results in their CHAOS report every two years or so.