1.2 The Need For The Software Architect

In the previous edition of this text, much was made about the software crisis and the failure of the industry to complete software projects as planned. Given that Corporate America spends more than $275 billion each year on approximately 200,000 application software development projects [Standish 1999], this was an alarming situation.

However, as the software industry has matured and the focus on software architecture has increased, significant improvements in the success rate of software projects have been made. According to the Standish Group, in 1994, only 16% of application development met the criteria for success-complete on time, on budget, and with all the features originally specified. By 1998, twenty-six percent of all software projects were successful. The cost of failed projects decreased from $81 billion in 1995 to an estimated $75 billion in 1998. Even more dramatic was a major shift in cost overruns from $59 billion in 1005 to an estimated $22 billion in 1998. While the state of the software industry seems to be on a positive upward trend, a high rate of failed projects could still benefit from the improvements that educated, knowledgeable software architects bring to the software development process.