Survey - Lying in Software Projects

Years of experience  
CurrentTitle   Academic faculty Software Engineer/Programmer/Developer System Analyst/Engineer Project Manager Software Architect Software quality assurance / tester Other  
Background Information  (anything to do with software projects that you think would be relevant)

Approximate number of projects you've participated on  


Please answer the following in increments of 10% (i.e. 0%, 10%, 20%, ..., 100%). The answer is the percentage of projects that you know some form of lying occurred.

Estimation
(e.g. estimating lower time/cost knowing that they cannot complete within time/cost budget, estimating higher for more profit, lighter workload, or compensate for other poor estimates, etc.)

% of projects where someone is intentionally distorting the truth	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to management	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to project lead	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to developer	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to customer/user	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to other departments	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Estimation is unreasonably high (e.g. padded for profit)	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Estimation is unreasonably low (e.g. to win bids)	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Status Reporting
(e.g. on schedule but is behind schedule to cover underperformance, on schedule but ahead of schedule to maintain budget buffer, work completed but is not, etc.)

% of projects where someone is intentionally distorting the truth	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to management	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to project lead	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to developer	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to customer/user	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to other departments	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Overly optimistic	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Overly pessimistic	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Political Maneuvering
(e.g. taking credit for others work, say what the superior wants to hear, hiding errors or underperformance, etc.)

% of projects where someone is intentionally distorting the truth for political maneuvering (e.g. self-promotion, shifting credit, blaming scape goats, etc.)	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to management	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to project lead	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to developer	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to customer/user	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to other departments	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
To cover up underperformance	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
For personal gain	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Hype
(e.g. embellishing features to sell the product, marketing features that do not exist, etc.)

% of projects where someone is intentionally distorting the truth to manipulate hype	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to management	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to project lead	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to developer	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to customer/user	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Distorting the truth to other departments	No answer Do not know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

[OPTIONAL]
What are your thoughts on the motivation/cause of distorting the truth in software projects?
Estimation

Status Report

Political Maneuvering

Hype




What are your thoughts to solve or minimize lying in software projects?
Estimation

Status Report

Political Maneuvering

Hype



Have you already implemented changes? Did it work? Did it not work? Any new concerns?


Any suggestions to improve this survey?


Other thoughts?


Check when you are done. This is just to ensure that you did not accidentally submit the form.

Thanks!