Published Paper Details:

This paper will provide an integrative analysis of the role of the shortcomings in scope management in causing failure in Indian startup projects. The research is based on the large body of prior empirical, case-based, and theoretical research both on software project management and startup pivots and synthesizes that prior research and supplements it with a focused empirical research into the modern practice of startups in India. The study is a combination of systematic review of the literature on the topic and primary qualitative data collected on the basis of practitioners to create a contextualised model of scope-related failure modes. Primary results demonstrate that there are common faults in scope definition, stakeholder alignment, change control, and validation systems, and show ecosystem-specific stressors, such as resource constraints and investor pressures, that increase the impact of bad scope management. This paper ends by providing practical recommendations to founders, project managers, and investors, as well as defining the areas where it is still necessary to conduct more research.