The risk factors affecting to the software quality failures in Sri Lankan Software industry

Abstract: Software project failure and cancellation rates increase day by day due to technical failures, quality failures, lack of end client acceptance etc. and also the lack of proper management. There are a number of reasons affected by the software project failures. According to empirical evidence, inadequate testing resources are one of the major factors that contribute to the poor quality. The main objectives of this study are to study the risk factors that affect the software quality to provide some recommendation to minimize the risk of poor quality. There are three main factors affecting to software quality namely proper testing, test planning and QA team which are directly impacted to the software quality risks. To conduct this study, I employed an open-ended questionnaire for collecting qualitative data from responses analyzed them using thematic approach method. The participants with their experiences agreed only with requirement clarity and clearly defined acceptance criteria, not with adequate unit testing and finally and also with that not doing regression testing force to quality failures. As of data analysis, not having proper formal test planning, initial test planning not being realistic, not following quality risk management, non-proper process and contingency action planning also lead to the risk of poor project quality. According to the participants added that the following factors are also behind the reasons for the lack quality of software. The experienced and skilled employees move out from the company as there is not a proper QA process and team members as they do not have the risk management mentality.