Successful software systems development is a delicate balance among several distinct factors (Jalote, 2002) such as enabling people to grow professionally; documenting processes representing the gained experiences and knowledge of the organization members; using know how to apply the suitable processes to similar circumstances; and refining processes based on achieved experience. Software projects have two main dimensions: engineering and project management. The engineering dimension concerns the construction of a system, and focuses mainly on issues such as how to build a system. The project management dimension is in charge with properly planning and controlling the engineering activities to meet project goals for optimal cost, schedule, and quality. For a project, the engineering processes specify how to perform activities such as requirement specification, design, testing, and so on. The project management processes, on the other hand, specify how to set milestones, organize personnel, manage risks, monitor progress, and so on (Jalote, 2002). A software process may be defined as “a set of activities, methods, practices, and transformations that people use to develop and maintain software, and the associated products and artifacts.”1 This is pictorially depicted in Figure 1 (Donaldson & Siegel, 2000).
Factors that affect software systems development project outcomes
