Riesgos Del Proyecto De Sofwuare

Chapter 5

Planning for Software Project Risks
In This Chapter
Identifying project risks Several software risks to avoid Completing qualitative and quantitative analyses Choosing a software development model Preparing the risk response plan

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isk is an uncertain event that could have a positive or negative outcome. Risk is everywhere: whether you’re driving, sky diving, crossing thestreet, trading stocks, or swimming with sharks. When you do something risky, you must calculate whether the potential reward is worth the potential risk. Some things are easy — the reward of driving from Point A to Point B is usually considered worth the risk of a traffic accident. For every risk there is some reward. If you’re lucky, the reward works in your favor, like buying low and selling highin the stock market. The risk is that you buy a stock and it tanks — you took a risk and you lost your investment. One of the toughest jobs for any project manager is managing project risks. In addition to risks that affect your ability to complete your assignments, project risks include the following: Inadequate time for completing the project Inadequate budget for completing the projectUnrealistic scope expectations A project team that needs additional time to ramp up development language Stakeholders that do not or cannot provide clear project requirements In software project management, the risks are rampant: time, cost, scope, quality, project team, and so on. We examine each of these risks, and more, in this

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Part II: Planning Your Software Project
chapter. The goal ofrisk management is to identify, quantify, plan for, and then react to the risk potential to keep the risks from affecting the project’s success.

Identifying Pure and Business Risks
When most people think of risks, they have an immediate negative connotation about risk. The risk, however, isn’t what makes folks frown; it’s the impact of the risk. Risk itself is not really a bad thing. Takingrisks can even have a positive impact. Consider a risk that you may get a discount from a vendor because of past orders. Or consider the risk that a change request from the customer allows your project six more weeks of development time. Or consider the risk of a new technology superseding your existing development processes. Positive risks are called risk opportunities. You can’t possibly considerevery single risk in a project. All projects deal with risks that are usually so far off the risk radar that they aren’t even a concern: The company might go out of business An asteroid could crash into the office building Big Foot could appear and take all the back-up tapes The senior developer might move to Hawaii See? These risks are unusual, highly improbable, and are way, way, out there in leftfield. But all of these are risks — you just have to accept them. As a project manager, you must consider the risk result, and you also have to categorize risks. In life and project management there are two types of risks to be concerned with: Pure risks: These risks have no upside, only a downside. Pure risks include things like loss of life or limb, fire, flood, and other bad stuff that nobodylikes. Business risks: These risks are the calculated risks you are concerned with in project management. A perfect example of a business risk is using a worker with less experience in order to save money on the project’s budget. The risk is that the worker will screw up and your project will be doomed. The reward is that the worker will cost less than the more experienced worker and save theproject some cash. An additional reward is that by challenging this employee you will encourage his or her growth and buy in on the project. This worker is more likely to be of greater value to you in future projects.

Chapter 5: Planning for Software Project Risks

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Dealing with pure risks in software projects
All right, we admit that you won’t have too many pure risks in software...