Software Engineering Risk Management

Understanding Risks Risks involve :  Uncertainty – there are no 100% probable risks  Loss – if the risk becomes a reality, unwanted consequences will occur Risk Categories :  Project risks – threaten the project plan (mostly happen because of the large product size)  Technical risks – threaten the quality and timeliness of the project to be produced  Business risks – threaten the viability of the software

Reactive Vs. Proactive Risk Management  In reactive risk management the project team reacts to risks when they occur. Fix on failure and crisis management actions are taken.  In proactive risk management a formal risk analysis is performed and the organization corrects the root causes of risks.

Examples of Risks Attributes that affect risk and are due to Product Size :  estimated size of the product in LOC or FP  number of users of the product  number of projected changes or due to Business Impact:  visibility of this product by senior management  reasonableness of delivery deadline

or due to the Customer :  Does the customer have a solid idea of requirements?  Has the customer agreed to spend time with you? or due to Process Maturity :  Have you established a common process framework?  Is it followed by project teams? or due to Technology :  Is the technology new to your organization?  Is a specialized user interface required?

Building a Risk Table RiskProbabilityImpactRMMM RiskMitigationMonitoring&Management These courseware materials are used in conjunction with Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach, 5/e and are provided with permission by R.S. Pressman & Associates, Inc., copyright © 1996, 2001

Building the Risk Table  Estimate the probability of occurrence  Estimate the impact on the project on a scale of 1 to 5, where  1 = low impact on project success  5 = catastrophic impact on project success  sort the table by probability and impact

RISK Risk Management Paradigm control identify analyze plan track These courseware materials are used in conjunction with Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach, 5/e and are provided with permission by R.S. Pressman & Associates, Inc., copyright © 1996, 2001