SANTA CRUZ, CA. October 27, 2015 - When it comes to controlling software development project costs, 30% of North American developers cite management decisions and initial or changing requirements as the most relevant factor, according to Evans Data Corp's recently released North American Development survey. An additional 29% point to the related topic of project design and specifications, while tools being used is cited by 13.5%. IT Operations, Learning Curve, Technical Expertise, and others only scored in single digits.

However, when it came to the biggest factor controlling on-time delivery, Technical Expertise shot to the top of the list of factors followed by Project Design and Tools Being Used. Management decisions and requirements were cited as the top factor by only 17% when on-time delivery, instead of cost is being considered.

"People don't often think of cost control and on-time delivery in a software project as dichotomies," said Janel Garvin, CEO of Evans Data. "But while the two are related in the minds of management, for developers there are very real differences in the factors that control cost vs time to deliver. Technical expertise is considered much more important in actually getting the project completed along with tools and project design."

The survey also showed a large proportion of developers using automated platform specific tools for deployment, and over 60% considering the availability of tools and publishing options before starting a project.

The survey, which is now in its 32nd edition is conducted twice a year with 400 software developers active in North America. It has a margin of error of 4.8% and encompasses over 200 pages of data. The scope of the survey is broad and investigates many development issues such as: Mobile development, Cloud Development, APIs, Platform hosting targeting, DevOps and Continuous Delivery, Security, Development Lifecycle, Demographics, Firmographics, and more:

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Evans Data Corporation provides regularly updated IT industry market intelligence based on in-depth surveys of the global developer population. Evans' syndicated research includes surveys focused on developers in a wide variety of subjects.

Copyright 2015 Evans Data Corporation. All other company names, products and services mentioned in this document are the trademarks and property of their respective owners.

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