Page - 95 - in The Future of Software Quality Assurance

Measure Twice, Cut Once: Acceptance Testing 95 The competitors will not hesitate to mention the bad experience you have had in that single project and gain points before prospective clients that were once yours. In the modern, competitive IT world, such big mistakes as skipping the acceptance test phaseareno longerallowed. But, tomakesure thatweallneed that specificphase,hereare somemorecharts derivedfromthe CHAOS reports. In the first one,wecansee themost commonreasons ITprojects fail (Table2). Then, thesecondchartshowsthefactors thatmakeaprojectsuccessful(Table3). Comparing the two tableswe can see a lot of familiarities and we can be certain to say thatavery important factor foreachsingleproject iselicitingcorrectandnot drasticallychangeablerequirements.Asweareallaware,goodrequirementsare the basisofacceptance testing aswell. Table 2 The most common reasons IT projects fail Project impaired factors %of response 1. Incomplete requirements 13.1 2. Lack of user involvement 12.4 3. Lack of resources 10.6 4. Unrealistic expectations 9.9 5. Lack of executive support 9.3 6. Changing requirements and specifications 8.7 7. Lack of planning 8.1 8. Didn’tneed it any longer 7.5 9. Lack of IT management 6.2 10. Technology illiteracy 4.3 11. Other 9.9 Table 3 The factors that make a project successful Project success factors %of response 1. User involvement 15.9 2. Executive management support 13.9 3. Clear statement of requirements 13.0 4. Proper planning 9.6 5. Realistic expectations 8.2 6. Smallerproject milestones 7.7 7. Competent staff 7.2 8. Ownership 5.3 9. Clearvision and objectives 2.9 10. Hard-working, focused staff 2.4 11. Other 13.9