Don't Blame the Developers:
External Stakeholders and the Tangled Web of Complex Software

Abstract:
Software projects fail. Frequently. Sometimes with spectacular results. While there are times that a project fails due to programmer error, many times projects fail because of factors exogenous to the actual development of the software that are introduced by the tangled web of relationships between external project stakeholders and the core development team. These external stakeholders are often only peripherally involved with the project, but may be key for the delivery of the project. In this talk I discuss the variety of ways that external stakeholders affect software projects and how IBM is tackling this complex problem of software governance.

Bio:
Patrick Wagstrom is a research staff member in the governance science research group at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center in Hawthorne, NY. His research at IBM focuses on the complex interactions between people and software projects and how individual and group behaviors, rather than strictly technical issues, are most responsible for software project failures. Prior to working at IBM he received a Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy and Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University and has undergraduate degrees in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Computer Science from Illinois Institute of Technology. When not conducting research for IBM he enjoys running marathons, has developed code for several Open Source projects, and once fought off a black bear in rural Alaska.