Improving your odds for software project success

Everyone would prefer that projects not fail, but they fail regularly. Cobb (1996) claims that "[w]e know why projects fail, we know how to prevent their failure, so why do they still fail?" This paper reviews both the literature and the practice of project management, and finds that there are tools and methodologies that have been identified to mitigate problematic projects. In the end, however, regardless of methodology, the answer to project failure continues to be good, honest communication.