Evaluation of Software Project Failure and Abandonment in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria

Abstract

Many organizations have embraced software development project only to abandon it later after considerable time and effort has been put in it. Project abandonment occurs when either problems arise in perceiving, analysing, designing, or configuring the system objectives or the technological basis for the system and its behavioural, political, or organizational issues directly or indirectly affect ways to bring the project to a successful completion within the estimated budget and schedule constraints, or when organizational environmental factors combined to reduce the project’s expected benefits or increase its expected costs. The study is investigative in nature using questionnaire method to collect data directly from the respondents. The research subjects were heads of computer units in government-owned tertiary institution in the South-East and South-South geopolitical areas of Nigeria who are expected to be well-informed about projects carried out in their organizations. The findings of the study, though preliminary in nature indicates software projects failure and abandonment as multifaceted issue defying easy explanations. Paying attention to these factors during software project development can help avoid failure and increase successful completion of the project.

Keywords: project management, abandonment, failure, software project, warning signals