2010 Update To The Dr. Dobbs Ambysoft Project Success Survey

November 18, 2010 · Filed Under Software Estimating · 2 Comments 

Ambysoft has published a 2010 update to their software success survey.  Again this was based on a survey of Dr. Dobbs’ mailing list so it may be biased towards developers. See my discussion of the 2007 software success survey for more detail.  And again in 2010 the information is very interesting.

In 2010 they dropped the programmer health criterion for success.  I was glad to see that since it seemed odd to me in the 2007 survey.

2010 Project Success Survey

Time/Schedule –54% prefer to deliver on time according to the schedule –44% prefer to deliver when the system is ready to be shipped. [If I had to guess, no one wants to deliver a system that is not ready and the 54% also wanted the system to be ready on schedule.]

Cost –35% prefer to deliver within budget –60% prefer to provide good return on investment (ROI). [Again I hope everyone wants their system to have a good ROI.  But some may view the technical work itself as most important.]

Functionality –14% prefer to build the system to specification –85% prefer to meet the actual needs of stakeholders. [Same thought here too.  I assume the 14% who prefer to build the system to spec also assumed this system would be useful.  Although some contractors may want to "meet spec" to get paid.]

Quality –40% prefer to deliver on time and on budget. 57% prefer to deliver high-quality, easy-to-maintain systems. [Nice to be maintainable since this is so much of the software total ownership cost.]

And the perceived project successes, challenges, and failures.  Here a project that didn’t have an ROI is not considered successful.  But we don’t know how ROI potential was determined.

Perceived project success rates


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Another View of Project Success From Dr. Dobbs

November 17, 2010 · Filed Under General, Software Estimating · 1 Comment 

While the Standish Group’s surveys are the most widely known quantification of project success, there is another, less known survey that has some interesting, and somewhat different results.  The survey was published in Dr. Dobbs Journal (a magazine I dropped from my reading list some years ago due to its programmer orientation).  Over 500 people from Dr. Dobbs’ mailing list participated in the survey.  It seems to be leaning more toward agile practices and mindsets and there are some interesting conclusions.

The 2007  Dr. Dobbs survey found success:

Agile 72% (28% not successful)

Traditional 63% (37% not successful)

Data warehousing 63% (37% not successful)

Offshoring 43% (57% not successful)

Looking at this survey’s success criteria:

  • On Schedule not as important as system readiness: 61.3 percent of respondents said that it is more important to deliver a system when it is ready to be shipped than to deliver it on time. [This seems like an obvious conclusion but seems to imply viable estimation and planning is not being used well.]
  • Forget the spec, meet the stakeholder needs: 87.3 percent said that meeting the actual needs of stakeholders is more important than building the system to specification. [Looks like they didn't expect the specifications to be correct, or perhaps non-existent.]
  • Achieve the best ROI: 79.6 percent said that providing the best return on investment (ROI) is more important than delivering a system under budget. [Hallelujah.. this is refreshing since some studies show the majority of systems never provide a positive ROI.]
  • Provide high quality: 87.3 percent said that delivering high quality is more important than delivering on time and on budget. [Depends on the definition of quality...]
  • Staff happiness: 75.8 percent said that having a healthy, both mentally and physically, workplace is more important than delivering on time and on budget. [Non-management IT persons rated this more highly than anything but quality...  Stakeholders put this at the bottom of the list while managers put it at number 4 of 5.  From this we can conclude that most of the respondents were non-management staff.]  PS This staff happiness is captured in SEER by the team motivation parameters.  Clearly a well functioning, motivated team will perform better.

Here is the software success detailed survey data.


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DoD Affordability: Implementing Directive For Ash Carter Initiative

November 8, 2010 · Filed Under General, Project Management, Thoughts · Comment 

A lot of people are interested in DoD’s initiative for improving affordability, often referred to as the Ash Carter memo.  Here it is from NDIA and others: “Implementation Directive for Better Buying Power: Guidance for Obtaining Greater Efficiency and Productivity in Defense Spending,” issued by Dr. Ashton Carter, DoD AT&L, concerning implementation instructions for a series of measures aimed at improving efficiencies and reducing costs in support of Secretary Gates’ Efficiency Initiative.  This directive and guidance are effective immediately.

- CLick here for Document


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Watts Humphrey Passing

November 3, 2010 · Filed Under General · Comment 

Watts Humphrey, Software Engineering Visionary, 83, died Thursday, October 28, 2010 at his home in Sarasota, Florida.   

When Watts Humphrey arrived at the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI) in 1986, he made what he called an “outrageous commitment to change the world of software engineering.”

By all accounts, he succeeded.

During his tenure at the SEI, he established the Software Process Program, led development of the Software Capability Maturity Model, and introduced the Software Process Assessment and Software Capability Evaluation methods. These later became the basis for the development of the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), a framework of software engineering best practices that has been adopted by thousands or organizations throughout the world. Humphrey also led the development of the Personal Software Process (PSP) and the Team Software Process (TSP). In 2005 Humphrey received the National Medal of Technology, the highest honor awarded by the President of the United States to America’s leading innovators.

  • Watts on planning: What’s the most significant factor in determining when a project will finish? When it starts. If you can’t make accurate plans, plan often.
  • Watts on producing quality work: If you want a quality product out of test, you must put a quality product into test.
  • Watts on assessment: If you don’t know where you are, a map won’t help.


Thank you for reading “Dan on Estimating”, if you would like more information about Galorath’s estimation models, please visit our contact page or call us at +1 310 414-3222.