| The cost of failed IT projects in the United States was recently estimated at
$84 billion in just 1 year [1], so software quality matters more now than it
ever has, and it matters to you and me because we use that software. For all
of us, our reliance on software is increasing year by year whether we realize
it or not. More of us are using software for more tasks than ever before,
in information technology (IT), information systems (IS) for businesses,
embedded systems in consumer goods such as phones, and, of course, across
the Internet [2]. The risks associated with software failure have increased
with the use of software; these include greater exposure for organizations
when software fails or is unsatisfactory, and greater disappointment or loss
for individuals when they are let down by software.
Meanwhile, pressures on modern organizations, including businesses,
have increased in recent years. Pressures on organizations—the importance
of time to market, cost reduction, value for money, increased expectation
and knowledge of customers, global communications, constant change, and
the need to find new markets—become pressures on software teams to produce
more software, more quickly, with increased expectations of what that
software can deliver as benefits. |
