ABSTRACT
Parting Words We have known the fundamentals of the software process for years. One has only to read classic texts such as Fred Brooks' The Mythical Man Month (1995), originally published in the mid-1970s, to see that this is true. Unfortunately, as an industry, we have generally ignored these fundamentals in favor of flashy new technologies promising to do away with all our complexities, resulting in a consistent failure rate of roughly 85% on large-scale, mission-critical projects. Seven out of eight projects fail-that is the cold, hard truth. Additionally, this failure rate, and embarrassments such as the Y2K crisis, are clear signs that we need to change our ways. It is time for organizations to choose to be successful, to follow techniques and approaches proven to work in practice, and to follow a mature software process.
