Software Engineering 1

RISK-
hazard: a source of danger; a possibility of incurring loss or misfortune; "drinking alcohol is a health hazard"
a venture undertaken without regard to possible loss or injury; "he saw the rewards but not the risks of crime"; "there was a danger he would do the wrong thing"
expose to a chance of loss or damage; "We risked losing a lot of money in this venture"; "Why risk your life?"; "She laid her job on the line when she told the boss that he was wrong"
the probability of becoming infected given that exposure to an infectious agent has occurred
gamble: take a risk in the hope of a favorable outcome; "When you buy these stocks you are gambling"

______reference_______ http://www.google.com.ph/search?hl=tl&defl=en&q=define:risk&ei=g_qJSov0KprW7AOyifCmDw&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title

SOFTWARE RISKS

-Risk 1: Inherent schedule flaws
Explanation: Software development, given the intangible nature and uniqueness of software, is inherently difficult to estimate and schedule.
Waltzing...Solution: Get the team more involved in planning and estimating. Get early feedback and address slips directly with stakeholders.
Agile Practice: On agile projects the team is heavily involved in planning and estimating through activities such as XP's planning game and Wideband Delphi workshops. By working in short increments the true velocity of the team quickly emerges and is visible to all stakeholders who are now more closely involved in the project. In short, the true progress is hard to hide and quickly revealed, giving feedback to the stakeholders.

-Risk 2: Requirements Inflation
Explanation: As the project progresses more and more features that were not identified at the beginning of the project emerge that threaten estimates and timelines.
Waltzing...Solution: Constant involvement of customers and developers.
Agile Practice: Agile projects plan in the regular trade-off discussions about features and estimates at every iteration boundary. Changes and requirements inflation are accepted as a fact of software projects. Rather than utilising change-suppression mechanisms, prioritisation sessions are scheduled that allow worthwhile changes to proceed and initially envisioned features to be superseded if the business gives their authorisation. It has never been possible to squeeze a pint into a quart cup, but now at least we anticipate the likely issue and have mechanisms in place to address the matter as part of the project from its early stages.

-Risk 3: Employee Turnover

Explanation: Key personnel leave the project taking critical information with them that significantly delays or derails the project.
Waltzing...Solution: Increased collaboration and information sharing on the team.
Agile Practice: Agile projects practice information sharing techniques such as pair programming, common code ownership, and frequent reporting at daily stand-ups specifically to reduce the "bus-factor". When this "bus factor" (the impact to the project of a key member being hit by a bus) is reduced multiple team members share key information and the risk due to employee turnover is small. Also, often overlooked, is the fact that when working in an engaging, rewarding, empowered, collaborative environment such as agile projects, people are far less likely to want to move elsewhere so the risk is often avoided as well as reduced.

-Risk 4: Specification Breakdown

Explanation: When coding and integration begin it becomes apparent that the specification is incomplete or contains conflicting requirements.
Waltzing...Solution: Use a dedicated Product Manager to make critical trade off decisions.
Agile Practice: Agile projects utilise the concept of an ambassador user, subject matter expert, or customer proxy to play the product manager role. The idea is that someone (or some group) need to be readily available to answer questions and make decisions on the project. Traditional projects suffer specification breakdown when no one will own the role and conflicting assumptions or decisions are made. Agile projects have some form of product owner role central to their core team composition to ensure decisions are made in a timely fashion.

-Risk 5: Poor Productivity

Explanation: Given long project timelines, the sense of urgency to work in earnest is often absent resulting to time lost in early project stages that can never be regained.
Waltzing...Solution: Short iterations, right people on team, coaching and team development.
Agile Practice: Agile methods recognise Parkinson's Law and the Student Syndrome apply to software projects. Parkinson's Law says that: "Work expands to fill the time available" and Student Syndrome: "Given a deadline, people tend to wait until the deadline is nearly here before starting work." By having short iterations, work is timeboxed into a manageable iteration (typically 1-4 weeks) and there is always a sense of urgency. Agile methods do not specifically address getting the right people on team, coaching and team development, but these are core leadership roles applicable to both agile and traditional projects.

______reference________

http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/top-five-software-project-risks.html

Risk Management - Identifying risks]

We have already mentioned that risks can be identified up front. This is true but it does not mean they will be accurate or valid when the task in question is carried out or a particular milestone is reached.

There is no easy scientific method that will guarantee all risks will be identified. Especially, if the mechanism is flawed leading to many minor risks.

The best way to approach it is via a brainstorm session utilising the experience of the project management team (see 'The Complete Project management package'). If this is lacking in certain areas then the project management team will need to bring in outside help.

For short projects technology changes may have little affect. However, for a project taking some time technology improvements may have a massive impact.

If the project is to design an item that has a specific function its use may be severely affected by change e.g. technical, fads, health and safety worries etc. An example where technology may have an impact is in the pharmaceutical industry. If a drug is administered of 5mg and the patient is then scanned by a piece of equipment the amount of drug required will depend upon the sensitivity of the instrument. If its sensitivity doubles only half the original drug dose may be required. This would have a significant impact over the time it takes to launch a drug.

In other words project management experience (see 'The Complete Project management package') tends to be based upon historical actions and one should carefully consider aspects of future problems.

The basic techniques for a brain storm are:

A brain storm requires the generation of a list of ideas to assist the task in hand.

Record
Make sure that all ideas are written down in such a way that all involved can see the list grow. Even record different viewpoints of what appears to be a similar idea.
Do not criticise
The aim of the exercise is to encourage the free expression of ideas no matter how they might appear to any individuals involved. To create an atmosphere where this is possible no one should criticise any of the ideas put forward or discuss them in any way.
Ideas
Initially go for a lot of ideas. Some ideas will trigger others, but still do not discuss them. If the environment is good a lot of creative ideas will be produced. All ideas, at this stage should be encouraged no matter how impractical they seem. A relaxed group is more likely to come up with creative ideas.
Consider
Some time should be taken to consider the ideas, taking a break if necessary or even getting outside comment on the ideas to date. This may produce additional ideas.