30 Problems That Affect Software Projects

From Estimating Software Costs: Bringing Realism To Estimating, 2^nd Edition.

1. Initial requirements are seldom more than 50 percent complete
2. Requirements grow at about 2 percent per calendar month during development
3. About 20 percent of initial requirements are delayed until a second release
4. Finding and fixing bugs is the most expensive software activity
5. Creating paper documents is the second most expensive software activity
6. Coding is the third most expensive software activity
7. Meetings and discussion are the fourth most expensive activity
8. Most forms of testing are less that 30 percent efficient in finding bugs
9. Most forms of testing touch less than 50 percent of the code being tested
10. There are more defects in requirements and design than in source code
11. There are more defects in test cases than in the software itself
12. Defects in requirements, design and code average 5.0 per function point
13. Total defect-removal efficiency before release averages only about 80 percent
14. About 15 percent of software defects are delivered to customers
15. Delivered defects are expensive and cause customer dissatisfaction
16. About 5 percent of modules in applications will contain 50 percent of all defects
17. About 7 percent of all defect repairs will accidentally inject new defects
18. Software reuse is the only effective for materials that approach zero defects
19. About 5 percent of software outsource contracts end up in litigation
20. About 35 percent of projects greater that 10,000 function points will be canceled
21. About 50 percent of project greater than 110,000 function points will be one year late
22. The failure mode for most cost estimates is to be excessively optimistic.
23. Productivity rates in the U.S. are about 10 function points per staff month
24. Assignment scopes for development are about 150 function points
25. Assignment scopes for maintenance are about 750 function points
26. Development costs about $1,200 per function point in the U.S.
27. Maintenance costs about $150 per function point per calendar year
28. After delivery applications grow at about 7 percent per calendar year during use
29. Average defect repair rates are about ten bugs or defect per month
30. Programmers need about ten days of annual training to stay current

Agile addresses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 well. 

So if these are the causes of project difficulties - and there may be others since this publication, what are the fixes?