M. Adam Davis wrote:
> 1. How long (months) is a typical development cycle for your
> successful projects?  (from define requirements through project
> delivery)

Varies widely, depending on whether it's a hardware-only, software, or 
both -- and what the project consists of.

For hardware-only projects (using all existing, pre-programmed components), 
the normal development cycle is about 1-2 man months. Of course, in my case 
a significant portion of the time is spent in the maintenance phase (fixing 
bugs, adding features, etc). The longest project we've worked on took 9 
months from requirements definition to project delivery.

Unfortunately, I almost never work on just one project at a time, and I have 
to combine them with other activities (management, graphics design, writing 
manuals, negotiating with vendors/customers, etc). Projects that involve a 
lot of uncertainty usually take the longest.

> 2. What percentage of projects are canceled or put on the back burner
> indefinitely?

I'd have to guess around 25%.

> 3. How long (months) is a typical development cycle for your cancelled 
> projects?

Several months -- usually at least 6.

> 4. In very general terms, give your top reason for project
> cancellation/failure/infinite delay.

The product doesn't meet cost of goods target. :)

In my opinion, two of our costliest failures resulted from (1) project scope 
that was too wide, and (2) there was too much emphasis on documentation.

Vitaliy 

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