Despite improved processes and increased IT budgets, it’s surprising that most software initiatives still fail. According to the 2019 “State of Agile Report,” only 48 percent of respondents reported that most or all of their agile projects were successful.
“Failure” can mean many things. Obvious examples are buggy products, stalled delivery, missed budgets, or blown timelines. But failure can also occur, even when a product is successfully delivered.
After all, if a software delivery team successfully builds a product that doesn’t provide any value to users—something people don’t actually use or gain benefit from—it can hardly be declared a success.
So with all the resources we have—iterative, adaptive development environments in which plans, architecture, and design evolve with a product—why do most products still fail? If you’re tired of failure, slow or low-quality software development cycles, it may be your delivery model—how you’re building software—that’s holding you back.