FBI's Troubled Sentinel Project Delayed Again

gManZboy writes "The FBI's Sentinel project, a digital case-management system meant to replace outdated, paper-based processes, has been delayed again. The FBI's CIO and CTO bet big on using agile development to hasten the project's completion. But now performance issues have arisen in testing and deployment has been pushed out to May. It's the latest in a series of delays to build a replacement for the FBI's 17-year-old Automated Case Support system. In 2006, the FBI awarded Lockheed Martin a $305 million contract to lead development of Sentinel, but it took back control of the project in September 2010 amid delays and cost overruns. At the time, the FBI said it would finish Sentinel within 12 months, using agile development strategies."

Reasons for failure

[Anonymous Coward]

From Wikipedia on software development projects.

analysis of software project management failures has shown that the following are the most common causes:
        Unrealistic or unarticulated project goals
        Inaccurate estimates of needed resources
        Badly defined system requirements
        Poor reporting of the project's status
        Unmanaged risks
        Poor communication among customers, developers, and users
        Use of immature technology
        Inability to handle the project's complexity
        Sloppy development practices
        Poor project management
        Stakeholder politics
        Commercial pressures

Re:Agile strikes again!

[Surt]

Kind of missing the point of agile if you're 15 months in and haven't delivered anything. I mean, you can call it agile (you could also call it waterfall), but if you're not following agile practices, don't blame agile for the failure.

I can't see that changing

[dbIII]

They still use a magic lasso lie detector machine invented by the writer of Wonder Woman and adopted by the FBI when their notoriusly corrupt leader J. Edgar Hoover was busy accepting kickbacks. Incompetence like that (unwillingness to fix obvious mistakes) is at the very core of their organisation and has made them an International laughing stock.