Ensuring success and quality through the use of standards in team projects: Students' perceptions

Abstract

This paper reports on a study analyzing the factors that contribute to the success and quality of software development projects in an educational environment. Software development standards were reviewed to identify key project success factors, as well as measures of success and quality. Interviews with students then investigated the degree to which students implemented software development standards in their projects, and the perceived impact of these standards on project success and quality. Students generally viewed standards as the "proven" ways of doing something, and felt that the use of standards supported project success. The factors that were perceived to contribute most to the success and quality of their team projects were team composition, skills within the development team, and communication within the team. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2009.