Despite various industry reports about the failure rates of software projects, there's still uncertainty about the actual figures. Researchers performed a global Web survey of IT departments in 2005 and 2007. The results suggest that the software crisis is perhaps exaggerated and that most software projects deliver. However, the overall project failure rate, including cancelled and completed but poorly performing projects, remains arguably high for an applied discipline.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Emam et al. (2008) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 related papers. Consider them for comparative context: