I was reading SDTimes magazine March 1st edition (okay, I’ve been a little busy lately and am behind on my reading) about the latest edition of The Standish Group CHAOS Report. The article reported that there is less chaos in software development today than there has been since The Standish Group started reporting chaos back in 1994.
InfoQ has an interview with Jim Johnson Founder and Chairman of The Standish Group. In the interview Mr. Johnson talks about the history of the CHAOS Report and the types of companies and projects that are surveyed. Last year Scott Rosenberg, on his “wordyard” blog, talked about the CHAOS Report, whether CHAOS is an acronym, and other Software Engineering Crisis project research.
The positive trajectory of software development success versus failure has been ongoing ever since the first CHAOS Report. Back in 2004, Software Magazine summarized the 10th edition of the CHAOS Report which showed a “100 percent improvement from the success rate found in the study in 1994.“
Back to the InfoQ interview with Jim Johnson. When asked if the report included small development shops Mr. Johnson replied "Well, no." He said the the report was the result of surveying "government and commercial organizations only - no vendors, suppliers or consultants". Mr. Johnson also said that they surveyed "organizations of all sizes, down to roughly 10 million" (revenue in US$).
The CHAOS Report categorizes software project outcomes into three areas: Success, Challenged, and Failed. The definitions of each:
- Success - delivered on time, on budget, and met the requirements
- Challenged - late, cost beyond the plan, and didn’t meet all of the requirements
- Failed - cancelled before completion or not deployed
Since CodeGear products are used by a wide variety and size of companies and individuals (no S, M, L, XL, XXL, ++ jokes please), I’ve decided to run my own little survey of project success, challenges, and failures. You can find my "HAVOC Report" survey at: http://video.codegear.com/coderage/HAVOCReport.exe
After I collect enough project reports (the number depends on you), I will start reporting the results in this blog and also in the Thank You page you receive after submitting a project report.
May all of your software projects be successful, fun, and rewarding!
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