1)      What are the 5 reasons a project fails?

They are:

1) Lack of communication - 40% of project managers cited poor communication as the leading cause of IT project failures.

1)      How can you use issue tracking for projects?

In software development, an Issue or Bug is a glitch in your software system that causes the program to behave in a way other than designed. An issue tracking system will manage and maintain your lists of issues by being in the center of the software bug life cycle model, and keeping your issues organized and centralized. For example, assigning tasks to team members, setting priorities, and running reports allow you to easily track the bug or issue throughout its lifecycle, so bugs don’t fall through the “cracks”.

Organizations also commonly use Issue tracking systems for their customer support call centers in conjunction with Help Desk software to create, assign, update, track and resolve reported issues. These issues could come from customers directly, or even from the organization's other (non IT) employees. If you plan on using an Issue Tracker in your customer support center, it is imperative that your help desk and issue tracker are fully integrated-all Elementool products are seamlessly integrated.

Here are five frequently asked questions that every PM needs to read:

What is an Issue and Why Must You Track it?

In software development, an Issue or Bug is a glitch in your software system that causes the program to behave in a way other than designed. Issues can range from the show stopper, a fatal error that causes irreparable damage to your software system, to the very minor glitch. Obviously, each issue in the system is not going to have the same importance, or urgency, attached to it. Critical issues, the show stoppers mentioned above, need to be solved first before you can do anything else. Lower urgency issues are the minor ones, which you or your team can put off until time permits. There are tons of other details, that are relevant to the fate of your software, to keep track of like who experienced the issue (was it a customer or someone within the company), when was the bug found, what exactly was it that the user experienced (in order to be solved, this needs to be extremely detailed!), what solutions were attempted, and much more.

An issue tracking system or tool will manage and maintain your lists of issues. Organizations commonly use Issue tracking systems in their customer support call centers to create, assign, update, track and resolve reported issues. These issues could come from customers directly, or even from the organization's other (non IT) employees. An issue tracking system will often also contain a knowledge base, which stores information on each customer, fixes for common problems, and other important and useful data.

The following 5 principles lay out the steps you should be following, to make sure that your projects are completed on time, and on budget, successfully.

1) Communicate

 40% of project managers cited poor communication as the leading cause if IT project failures. If everyone involved in your IT project doesn’t know what they’re working on, when it’s due, how to get itdone and who the audience is, how can you possibly expect your project to succeed? All of the other principles that come later on rely on your communication, expectations, goals, resources, deadlines, priorities, reports and budgets all need to be available to your team so that they can do their jobs properly. Yes, communicating all of these things can sometimes be difficult, particularly if it’s a short project with a tight deadline, or half of your team is located overseas. It doesn’t matter. With all of the technology readily available to us today, there is NO excuse for lack of communication. Tools like web-conferencing actually make it possible for your developer in Hyderabad to share his screen with you in New York, to demonstrate how exactly to recreate major bug in your application.

In software development, an Issue or Bug is a glitch in your software system that causes the program to behave in a way other than designed. Issues can range from the show stopper, a fatal error that causes irreparable damage to your software system, to the very minor glitch. Obviously, each issue in the system is not going to have the same importance, or urgency, attached to it. Critical issues, the show stoppers mentioned above, need to be solved first before you can do anything else. Lower urgency issues are the minor ones, which you or your team can put off until time permits. 

Software bugs are so prevalent and so detrimental that they cost the U.S. economy an estimated $59.5 billion annually, or about 0.6 % of the gross domestic product.i An estimated $22.2 billion could be saved annually in the U.S. just by implementing an improved testing infrastructure to enable earlier and more effective identification, and
removal, of software defects!

These are large numbers, for sure. You’re probably thinking that since this cost is spread out over the entire U.S. economy, that the impact isn’t all too staggering. However, think about what 0.6% of your company’s annual revenues are! That’s probably a fairly large number; now imagine that you could prevent the loss of almost half that number simply by improving your software testing process. Testing is what ensures that your software application is of the high quality that your customers want. It’s what makes sure that the product you send out the door is consistent with your business goals. This is a HUGE piece of the software development lifecycle (SDLC); testing typically consumes 40 – 50% of any development project, and even more effort is needed for systems requiring a higher level of reliability.

http://www.elementool.com/ebook/SoftwareTestingMethods.pdf

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1107304683 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} span.EmailStyle15 {mso-style-type:personal; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-ansi-font-size:11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; color:windowtext;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} -->

According to the market research company, Research and Markets, US spending on IT products and services is forecasted to grow to $514.5 billion in 2010. However, the estimated cost of IT failures to the US economy is $1 trillion! Now we’re talking about IT system failures and their net affect on the companies that rely on those systems. But you can bet money on the fact that the institutions and companies experiencing these losses know the IT company who built their system. Furthermore, they’re not going to be buying from that company again, much less recommending it to their partners and contacts. In any company, large or small, your reputation is your biggest asset – you want to be in that 8% group. If your IT projects are failing, then you are not going to win the market share you need to compete in that $514.5 billion market!
The following 5 principles lay out the steps you should be following, to make sure that your projects are completed on time, and on budget, successfully. Read them, learn them, know them, teach them and then make them stick.
Principle One: Communicate
• 40% of project managers cited poor communication as the leading cause if IT project failures
If everyone involved in your IT project doesn’t know what they’re working on, when it’s due, how to get it done and who the audience is, how can you possibly expect your project to succeed?

Building test cases is about doing your best to find the worst in a program in order to deliver a quality product to thecustomer. Without a well-designed and executed test plan, the results can be catastrophic and very costly. For example,because of an error in the software, the first flight of the Ariane 5 rocket resulted in its complete destruction and the loss of four satellites at a cost of more than $370 million.

In the U.S. alone, software bugs cost the economy $59 billion2 back in 2002. Clearly, software defects must be found and corrected before unleashing new programs to the customer.

This article provides you with a basic understanding of software test cases. In addition, the article describes proven methods for building test cases that uncover the most defects with the minimum of time, effort and money.

In software development, an Issue or Bug is a glitch in your software system that causes the program to behave in a way other than designed. Issues can range from the show stopper, a fatal error that causes irreparable damage to your software system, to the very minor glitch. Obviously, each issue in the system is not going to have the same importance, or urgency, attached to it. Critical issues, the show stoppers mentioned above, need to be solved first before you can do anything else. Lower urgency issues are the minor ones, which you or your team can put off until time permits. There are tons of other details, that are relevant to the fate of your software, to keep track of like who experienced the issue (was it a customer or someone within the company), when was the bug found, what exactly was it that the user
experienced (in order to be solved, this needs to be extremely detailed!), what solutions were attempted, and much more.

An issue tracking system or tool will manage and maintain your lists of issues. Organizations commonly use Issue tracking systems in their customer support call centers to create, assign, update, track and resolve reported issues. These issues could come from customers directly, or even from the organization's other (non IT) employees. An issue tracking system will often also contain a knowledge base, which information on each customer, fixes for common problems, and other important and useful data. http://www.elementool.com/ebook/IssueTrackingeBook.pdf