AN EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS RELATING THE SOFTWARE PROJECT-MANAGEMENT PROCESS TO PROJECT SUCCESS

The paucity of significant empirical data relating the software management process to quantitative project performance is the motivation for this study. A conceptual causal model characterizes the factors of adversity that must be managed on a project along with the factors of intrinsic management skills that are available to neutralize or overcome the adversity; the residual effect, called residual management power, is hypothesized to relate quantitatively to project business and technical performance. An informal exploratory data analysis on 24 projects has been undertaken to determine the feasibility of the conceptual model and to identify more precise hypotheses that may have validity as an operational model of software project management. The nonparametric coefficients of correlation between post facto measurements of residual management power and both project technical and business performance are 0.7, suggesting that the basic hypothesis of this model is feasible. Other interesting relationships involving risk management, project adversity, business constraints, and precision of technical scope definition deriving from the exploratory analysis are discussed.