Yeah...why is software hard?

Wayne Allen has an interesting blog on 'Why is Software hard?' I don't think the question can be completely answered but in the 15 years of developing systems (for major companies), I can, perhaps, shed a light or two.

I don't know why software is hard but I can say it gets hard when we loose sight of our end-user's needs (requirements). I would recommend focusing on requirements, requirements & requirements. As per the industry report (Standish Report), over 70% of software projects fail due to poor requirements management. Of course, there is scope creep which is the bane of software development but it can be dealt with - by having the buyer pay more. Free advice: The best antidote to 'scope creep' is more payment (I do mean $). Overall, I would recommend a good design that is focused on end-user's requirements. I recommend Terry Winograd's book 'Bringing Design to Software' to get a good feel for designing (& developing) good end-user software.