Part 1
IT projects have recorded high failure rates over the years. The main reason behind these failures is attributed to people. Studies have shown that people are the main cause for the failure of IT projects (Faeth, 2012). A good example of an IT project failure that occurred within the last three years is the Volkswagen Vehicle Emission System. The project was scandalous and is ranked among the most expensive failures in the corporate history. It was revealed that Volkswagen cheated so as to pass the emission testing as required by the government (IPLA, 2015).
The failure of the project was caused by people. In this case, it was not due to mistakes made by the project team, but rather the action was intentional. The engineering team of Volkswagen designed software known as “defeat device” so as to beat the emission test (IPLA, 2015). The device was designed to detect whenever a car was subjected to emissions testing. The device would then cause the engine to minimize its emissions so as to pass the emissions test. It is reported that Volkswagen would have complied with the government regulations by using the required technology, but the company chose to lower its costs by cheating the system. The costs of the required components were too high.
Part 2
There were several lapses in the system development life cycle (SDLC) that led to the failure of the project. These lapses occurred in the Requirement Analysis; Design; and Testing stages of the project. The Requirement Analysis stage enabled the company to know the total cost that the project would incur. The company would have insisted on complying with the government regulations or abandoning the project instead of cheating the system. There was a lapse in the Design stage when the engineers developed software that would cheat the emissions test. Another lapse occurred in the Testing stage because the government was not able to discover that the vehicles had “defeat devices” that enabled them to pass the emissions test. The lapse in the SDLC was discovered when an independent lab carried out further tests on the Volkswagen vehicles in real time (IPLA, 2015).
References
Faeth, F. (2012). IT Project Failure Rates: Facts and Reasons. Faeth Coaching. Retrieved from: http://faethcoaching.com/it-project-failure-rates-facts-and-reasons/
IPLA, (2015, Oct 1). Volkswagen. International Project Leadership Academy. Retrieved from: http://calleam.com/WTPF/?p=7666
