The effects of project structure and the organizational politics of stakeholders on software product development project schedules are examined to gain insight into the impacts of organizational politics within the broader arena of new product development scheduling. Most software product development project schedules are built with little consideration of either a project's organizational or political context. Few such projects deliver "on spec, on time, and on budget". The theoretical context of this research holds that project scheduling is an ongoing political process for allocating finite resources. Professional software project manager interviews were held to enrich the understanding of the political issues around project schedules. Questionnaires completed by professional software project managers supported the hypotheses that project structure influences organizational politics, and that organizational politics influences schedule behaviour. Indications are that early political intervention may result in smaller schedule overruns while increasing levels of political activity later in project's lifecycle may be a response to accumulating schedule overruns.
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