A Study of Factors That Influence the Software Project Success

Abstract

Most software development organizations are project based. However, statistics show that the failure rate of projects is very high. Different authors have identified factors (critical success factors) that can influence the success or failure of software projects, and that must be considered when carrying out a software project. This study is part of a research aimed at defining a framework that allows software development companies to assess the extent of the impact of critical success factors on their projects and increase the probability of project success. To achieve this goal, the first step was to identify the factors influencing software project success as reported in recent literature, as presented in this paper. A systematic literature review was conducted to obtain the list of factors that can influence the success of software projects. The list of 50 critical success factors resulting from this literature review can be used as a guide of critical aspects to be taken into consideration by the project manager when managing a project. Several gaps were identified through the literature review, such as the lack of indicators to measure the level of impact of each factor and the absence of descriptions for these factors.