Only when we can specify the design of a software product with the same precision that we can specify the design of a skyscraper will we ever see the failure rates of software "engineering" efforts approach those of other engineering fields. As any practicing programmer can tell you, even the best upfront design specs are imprecise and incomplete. And most of the time those specs are changed over and over again during the development effort so radically that the final product is often barely recognizable.

I put the blame for this firmly on the shoulders of the "clients". We can and do achieve high success rates with low defect counts in special cases where the goal is precisely and clearly defined and the development budget is sufficient. When we start caring about the quality of a website or mobile app as much as we care about the quality of the software that runs airline flight control systems or medical devices then we'll see real software "engineering" emerge.