Take a minute to ask yourself what percentage of software development projects are successful. If your guess is much higher than 25% you’re in for quite a shock. In a longitudinal study of over 30,000 software development projects released in 2000, The Standish Group International, Inc. (www.standishgroup.com) reported 23% of projects were complete failures and 49% were “challenged” with budget or schedule overruns or with features dropped from the software released. Clearly software development is not an easy task and success is not a given when a project begins.
One strategy used to increase the chances of success is risk management. To manage risk all the players involved in a particular project come together to identify potential problems that could affect the success of the project. The potential problems identified are analyzed to determine the risk to the project and plans are put in place to avoid the problems altogether or to mitigate the impact on the project if/when they occur. As the software development process proceeds the risks are closely monitored and the avoidance or mitigation plans are put into effect as needed.
Today your task is to begin the process of risk management for your group’s project. If you have not already done so, begin by selecting a member of your group as the project manager during this risk management exercise. The exercise will involve all members of the group but the project manager will have the final decision making power throughout the risk management process.
When instructed, as a group begin to brainstorm a list of all the potential problems that could effect the success of your project. At this stage record all of the ideas generated by the group. Do not waste time debating the seriousness or likelihood of a particular problem. Below is a list of questions that may help generate some ideas for you:
How familiar is your group with the development environment you have selected?
Is the juggle of other classes and/or work posing a particular challenge for any of your team members?
How confident is your team in the estimates made for the amount of work required to successfully complete the project?
Is your team particularly dependent on a particular team member?
Is there a piece of the project upon which the success of several other portions of the project depend?
Does the team have all of the hardware or software required for the project?
Do all of your team members have the same idea of success for the project or are some of you shooting for an A and others would be satisfied with a C?
When instructed, as a group begin to analyze each of the potential problems your group identified during the brainstorming session. For each problem determine if the likelihood of the potential problem occurring (low, medium, or high). Also, determine the impact the potential problem would have on the success of the project if it occurred (catastrophic, serious, tolerable or insignificant.) For example one member of your group has explained that they’ve got a really tough class load for this semester so there is a high probability they won’t have much time to dedicate to the project. The impact of this is tolerable because this particular member has a small part of the project. At this stage your team may not completely agree on the probability or impact ratings for each potential problem. Your project manager will make the final decision when this occurs. At the end of the analysis the team must have a list of the top 10 risks to the project’s success.
When instructed, as a group take each of the top 10 risks and create a strategy to avoid the potential problem altogether or to minimize the impact of the problem if it occurs. For example to avoid the potential problem of running out of time before the project is complete you may want to scale back the scope of the project and make certain features must haves and others optional if time permits. To minimize the impact of team members having trouble making the time to work on the project you may want to assign each piece of the project to a pair of people in the hope that at least one of them will be able to make progress at any point in time during the semester. Document each strategy