Analysis failure factors for small & medium software projects based on PLS method

It is estimated that the success rate of IT project maintain below 30%, and this figure are even lower in china. There must be some common factors that led to an unsuccessful project. This paper tries to treat the problem with following method. Firstly, we give the criteria of a failure project based on the research of the definition of success, and extract five major factors that contribute to the failure on the basis of the related literature, then establish the model on software failure; secondly, we collect the data via questionnaires and have interviews with project managers; thirdly, we use the Structural Equation Model to analyse those data, and draw conclusions. At last, we give summary of which are the most important factors that contribute to the failure, and also give some suggestions to avoid the failure of software project.