Causes and solutions for schedule slippage: a survey of software projects

Abstract

Research works were conducted previously to identify the root causes of schedule slippage and the solutions to reducing development cycle time. However, the data used was collected in the early 90s. The purpose of this research is to assist software managers to identify the causes of schedule slippage and recognize the effective solutions for today's projects in a timely manner. In order to obtain more current data, this research conducted a survey from 1998 to 1999. The correlation among various project factors, especially the correlation between the causes of schedule slippage, the project status, the development environment, and the effective solutions has been identified. A knowledge base has been built to store the correlation and facilitate software managers to make responsive decisions that have positive impact on the schedule.