Is Software Really Different than other Industries?

Much has been made about the failure rate of software projects with the failure rate being around 66%. Failure being defined as over budget, delivered late or both. No mention is made of how many of those projects suffered from severe scope creep and feature bloat. Neither is whether or not the sucessful projects delivered the correct software nor how complicated the "sucessful" projects were. Further it has been claimed that if it were any other industry the failure rate wouldn't be tolerated.

I disagree.

I have yet run across any service industry that regularly operates on time and on budget with any level of complexity involved.

Take auto repair for example. When was the last time your mechanic had your car ready before they said, and for the estimated cost? The last time I had a $200 tune-up I still ended up paying another $200 for a caburator rebuild because something they did fouled the carburator. Plus it took an additional 4 days. Project failure.

Or when was the last time you heard about someone doing so home remodeling say "we got done on time and on budget"? Not often I bet. Rather you heard the horror story about the insufficient structural support and having to reroute plumbing, etc.

Granted that other industries having simular failure rates is no excuse for ours. But lets not beat ourselves up about it either. Dealing with complexity is not easy, we should be and are looking for ways to address managing this complexity. Until we find the answer lets be honest with our clients & customers and communicate as much as possible with them so they can make intelligent decisions.

2 Comments




  • "Failure being defined as over budget, delivered late or both."





    Wayne: I disagree with that definition of "failure." A project completed late or over budget (within reason) may actually be hugely successful: What if it generates vast amounts of revenue, or creates a community of enthusiastic, satisfied users?





    Defining "success" solely in terms of schedule or budget is short-sighted and narrow-minded, IMO.


  • I also disagree with the definition, I'm just pointing out that this definition is questionable and if we apply it to other industries software doesn't look that bad.

Comments have been disabled for this content.