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| Richard E. Fairley, Mary Jane Willshire, "Why the Vasa Sank: 10 Problems and Some Antidotes for Software Projects," IEEE Software, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 18-25, March/April, 2003. | |||
| BibTex | x | ||
| @article{ 10.1109/MS.2003.1184161, author = {Richard E. Fairley and Mary Jane Willshire}, title = {Why the Vasa Sank: 10 Problems and Some Antidotes for Software Projects}, journal ={IEEE Software}, volume = {20}, number = {2}, issn = {0740-7459}, year = {2003}, pages = {18-25}, doi = {http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MS.2003.1184161}, publisher = {IEEE Computer Society}, address = {Los Alamitos, CA, USA}, } | |||
| RefWorks Procite/RefMan/Endnote | x | ||
| TY - MGZN JO - IEEE Software TI - Why the Vasa Sank: 10 Problems and Some Antidotes for Software Projects IS - 2 SN - 0740-7459 SP18 EP25 EPD - 18-25 A1 - Richard E. Fairley, A1 - Mary Jane Willshire, PY - 2003 KW - software projects KW - software requirements KW - project management KW - risk management KW - case study KW - best practices VL - 20 JA - IEEE Software ER - | |||
Around 4:00 PM on 10 August 1628, the warship Vasa set sail in Stockholm harbor on its maiden voyage as the newest ship in the Royal Swedish Navy. After sailing about 1300 meters a light gust of wind caused the Vasa to capsize. The fundamental reason the Vasa sank is, of course, that the ship was unstable. The reasons that the Vasa was constructed to be unstable, and launched when known to be unstable, are numerous and varied. The problems encountered are as relevant to our modern-day attempts to build large, complex software systems as they were to the art and craft of building warships in the 17th century. This article describes the problems encountered in the Vasa project, interprets the problems encountered in terms of modern software projects, and presents some antidotes for those problems.