Click here to Skip to main content
15,898,010 members

Survey Results

What is the main reason a deadline would not be met?   [Edit]

Survey period: 21 Apr 2008 to 28 Apr 2008

We've all experienced that whooshing sound of a deadline flying past. What's your best excuse? (suggested by Paul Jonathan)

OptionVotes% 
Incomplete (or missing) specs?939.65
Changing specs27728.73
Insufficient budget or resources202.07
A lack of understanding as to the scale of the work involved11011.41
The deadline was decided by marketing rather than R&D12813.28
The developers involved weren't asked how long it would take717.37
The project was interupted by other work or demands13814.32
Plain old bad estimations of how long it would take10210.58

View optional text answers (38 answers)


 
GeneralRunning out of decent poll subjects? Pin
#realJSOP24-Apr-08 11:15
professional#realJSOP24-Apr-08 11:15 
GeneralRe: Running out of decent poll subjects? Pin
PIEBALDconsult25-Apr-08 4:33
mvePIEBALDconsult25-Apr-08 4:33 
GeneralI don't have a best excuse. Pin
trelliot22-Apr-08 19:42
trelliot22-Apr-08 19:42 
GeneralJust Plain Ol' Obstruction Pin
W Balboos, GHB22-Apr-08 3:01
W Balboos, GHB22-Apr-08 3:01 
GeneralRe: Just Plain Ol' Obstruction Pin
mrMercury22-Apr-08 5:53
mrMercury22-Apr-08 5:53 
AnswerRe: Just Plain Ol' Obstruction Pin
Load_error23-Apr-08 2:29
Load_error23-Apr-08 2:29 
Generalunder promise and over deliver! Pin
Maurice121-Apr-08 9:11
Maurice121-Apr-08 9:11 
GeneralRe: under promise and over deliver! Pin
trelliot22-Apr-08 20:12
trelliot22-Apr-08 20:12 
JokeRe: under promise and over deliver! Pin
Load_error23-Apr-08 2:33
Load_error23-Apr-08 2:33 
GeneralRe: All of The Above! Pin
Steve Naidamast21-Apr-08 6:11
professionalSteve Naidamast21-Apr-08 6:11 
Projects continue to fail for all of the reasons cited; many of the project failures the result of a combination of such reasons.

However, the most predominant cause of all project failure comes down to mismanagement by technical managers. Technical managers on the whole are too much in a rush to do too much simply to meet the expectations of non-IT management. Instead of learning the skills required to properly negotiate with non-IT personnel so that proper resources, personnel, and time are appropriated to each project specifically, such managers tend to lump all such work into a continuous blur of enhancements and updates which practically always results in messy systems that over time become impossible to maintain and thus cost excessive amounts of monies to rewrite or upgrade substantially.

Of course, none of this is ever the fault of such managers and the result is a massive increase in stress on technical personnel which leads to its own set of project development issues...

Steve Naidamast
Black Falcon Software, Inc.
blackfalconsoftware@ix.netcom.com

GeneralArtificial processes (waisting too much time) Pin
Xiangyang Liu 刘向阳21-Apr-08 1:13
Xiangyang Liu 刘向阳21-Apr-08 1:13 
GeneralRe: Artificial processes (waisting too much time) Pin
chippingtonderrick22-Apr-08 0:29
chippingtonderrick22-Apr-08 0:29 
GeneralAll of the above! Pin
Marc Clifton21-Apr-08 1:01
mvaMarc Clifton21-Apr-08 1:01 
GeneralRe: All of the above! Pin
Gary Wheeler21-Apr-08 7:13
Gary Wheeler21-Apr-08 7:13 
GeneralRe: All of the above! Pin
Marc Clifton21-Apr-08 7:19
mvaMarc Clifton21-Apr-08 7:19 
GeneralRe: All of the above! Pin
ghle21-Apr-08 7:37
ghle21-Apr-08 7:37 
GeneralRe: All of the above! Pin
dmitri_sps21-Apr-08 17:18
dmitri_sps21-Apr-08 17:18 
GeneralRe: All of the above! Pin
Bob Nadler22-Apr-08 5:54
Bob Nadler22-Apr-08 5:54 
GeneralRe: All of the above! Pin
Marc Clifton22-Apr-08 5:57
mvaMarc Clifton22-Apr-08 5:57 
GeneralRe: All of the above! Pin
Bob Nadler22-Apr-08 6:09
Bob Nadler22-Apr-08 6:09 
GeneralThis is an oldy... Pin
AlexCode20-Apr-08 23:32
professionalAlexCode20-Apr-08 23:32 
GeneralRe: This is an oldy... Pin
Jeff.Crawford21-Apr-08 0:38
Jeff.Crawford21-Apr-08 0:38 
GeneralRe: This is an oldy... Pin
jhwurmbach21-Apr-08 1:47
jhwurmbach21-Apr-08 1:47 
GeneralRe: This is an oldy... Pin
ghle21-Apr-08 2:51
ghle21-Apr-08 2:51 
GeneralRe: This is an oldy... Pin
jhwurmbach21-Apr-08 2:56
jhwurmbach21-Apr-08 2:56 

General General    News News    Suggestion Suggestion    Question Question    Bug Bug    Answer Answer    Joke Joke    Praise Praise    Rant Rant    Admin Admin   

Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.