Archive for May 2nd, 2009
Standish Group: “More Projects Failing”
The Standish Group has published its CHAOS Summary 2009 report. Here are two excerpts from the press release:
“This year’s results show a marked decrease in project success rates, with 32% of all projects succeeding which are delivered on time, on budget, with required features and functions” says Jim Johnson, chairman of The Standish Group, “44% were challenged which are late, over budget, and/or with less than the required features and functions and 24% failed which are cancelled prior to completion or delivered and never used.”
“These numbers represent a downtick in the success rates from the previous study, as well as a significant increase in the number of failures”, says Jim Crear, Standish Group CIO, “They are low point in the last five study periods. This year’s results represent the highest failure rate in over a decade.”
Statement of Purpose for the “Ask an Expert” Program
A recent post in this blog outlined Agile Austin‘s intent to start an “Ask an Expert” service. Plans for the program have been solidified now and it will be kicked off next week. The statement of purpose for the program is as follows:
The objective of the Ask an Expert program is to provide free consultation by experienced Agile Austin coaches to any Austinite that wrestles with issues related to promoting, planning and executing Agile methods. The program will address the needs of practitioners in companies that produce software, embed software, or use software as an integral part of their business processes. In addition to 1-1 consultation, coaches will gladly hold discussions with entire teams.
Ask an Expert sessions should be primarily regarded as a step toward addressing concrete Agile issues that manifest themselves in a specific environment. Coaches might not be able to complete a comprehensive analysis, but will make certain to suggest what the heart of the problem might be and point out Agile resources that practitioners could use on their own.
To ensure available access to experts, consultative session time will be divided between attendees. Team discussions with any Agilists attending the program will be encouraged to maximize the sharing of experience and draw out the wisdom of crowds. One-on-one sessions are available on request, but will be time-limited based on attendance (15 minutes typical).
The program will strive to balance utility with fun. Utility will primarily be delivered through actionable insights; fun will be had through passionate exploration of Agile topics in a friendly and collaborative manner.
Starting the coming Thursday (May 7), the program will be held every Thursday 6-8PM in the Chicago room at Mangia’s Pizza, 8012 Mesa Drive, Austin, TX.
Click here for the website for the program. Many thanks to Agile Austin volunteer Chandler Sweetser for constructing it. In a true Agile fashion, the site will evolve as we go along.
The Agile Executive 