bwalsh's blog

A common complaint we hear from our business clients is that IT is a black box within their organization. They send requirements in, have very little communication for long periods of time, and eventually are delivered an application with approximately half of the requested functionality or enhancements. Whether a VP of Operations allotting $75 of a $600 million dollar budget to IT or the CEO of a start up ISV whose livelihood is dependant on successful product development, the frustration and uncertainly is equally painful and unnerving.

In almost every aspect of our lives poor communication is often the root cause of problems that result in misunderstandings and inconsistent expectations. Software development teams comprised of multiple individuals, many with other responsibilities who are working part time on a project, are no exception to being prone to communication issues. Numerous studies, such as a web survey in March 2007 by the Computing Technology Industry Association, single out poor communications as the number one cause of project failure.