Software development project success and failure from the supplier's perspective: A systematic literature review

In this paper, we consider software development project success and failure from the supplier's perspective. First we clarified concepts in order to be able to exclude review articles on in-house projects, continuous services, the customer's perspective, and software product development, with the aim of providing valid results for supplier firms. We divided success criteria into project success and project management (PM) success, and, in seven articles, identified three success criteria from the supplier's perspective: customer satisfaction, short-term business benefits, and long-term business benefits. In contrast, no definition of software development project failure was found. Articles were found in seven different journals, showing that knowledge on software development project success from the supplier's perspective is fragmented. This impedes the growth of knowledge on this topic.

► We made a systematic literature review.
► Focus was on SW development project success and failure from supplier's perspective.
► Criteria only for project success were found.
► Adherence only to PM success criteria may sustain reputation of failing SW projects.
► Knowledge on SW development project success from supplier's perspective is fragmented.