The CHAOS Report
In 1995, the Standish Group published an often-quoted study entitled The CHAOS Report. This consulting firm surveyed 365 information technology executive managers in the United States who managed more than 8,380 information technology application projects.
As the title of the study suggests, the projects were in a state of chaos. U.S. companies spent more than $250 billion each year in the early 1990s on approximately 175,000 information technology application development projects. Examples of these projects included creating a new database for a state department of motor vehicles, developing a new system for car rental and hotel reservations, and implementing a client-server architecture for the banking industry. The study reported that the overall success rate of information technology projects was only 16.2 percent. The surveyors defined success as meeting project goals on time and on budget. The study also found that more than 31 percent of information technology projects were canceled before completion, costing U.S. companies and government agencies more than $81 billion. The study authors were adamant about the need for better project management in the information technology industry. They explained, Software development projects are in chaos, and we can no longer imitate the three monkeys hear no failures, see no failures, speak no failures. 5 In a more recent study, PricewaterhouseCoopers surveyed 200 companies from 30 different countries about their project management maturity and found that over half of all projects fail. They also found that only 2.5 percent of corporations consistently meet their targets for scope, time, and cost goals for all types of project.