Do you know any publicly available information about big software project failure?

Question

I'm trying to find some publicly available "lessons learned" after a failed software development project. The bigger the project, the better. I'm interested mostly in opinions expressed by its participants: managers, programmers, designers, etc.

Information from analysts like F. Brooks, S. McConnell, and others is not as important, but thanks for your comments.

Answer 1

Microsoft Bob - It was a good idea. But no one wanted cartoons to represent the office environment.

Answer 2

Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software.

Answer 3

programming and/or project management books tend to have the best compilations of the material you are looking for.

My favorite is Steve McConnell's book "Software Project Survival Guide" (Amazon link) which has numerous examples of large failures and lessons learned.

Answer 4

Software Engineering Institude was my source for information on probablilty of success vs size of project. Not surprisingly the less likely it is to succeed.

You may also want to look at the book, "The Mythical Man Month" by Fred Brooks.

Answer 5

That's the best I've found so far:

• EDRS for NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, failed by IBM

Answer 6

Take a look at this and Ed Yourdon's book: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_march_%28software_development%29

Also his web site - he may have projects like this listed there:http://www.yourdonreport.com/

Answer 7

There was a quite famous case involving the FBI...Virtual Case File

• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/17/AR2006081701485.html
• http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/who-killed-the-virtual-case-file