Product Size Risks

Few experienced managers would debate the following statement: Project risk is directly proportional to product size. The following risk item issues identify generic risks associated with product size:

• Estimated size of the product in LOC or FP?
• Degree of confidence in estimated size estimate?
• Estimated size of product in number of programs, files, transactions?
• Percentage deviation in size of product from average for previous products?
• Size of database created or used by the product?
• Number of users of the product?
• Number of projected changes to the requirements for the product? Before delivery? after delivery?
• Amount of reused software?

In each case, the information for the product to be developed must be compared to past experience. If a large percentage deviation occurs or if numbers are similar, but past results were considerably less than satisfactory, risk is high.

Business Impact Risks

An engineering manager at a major software company placed the following framed plaque on his wall: "God grant me brains to be a good project manager and the common sense to run like hell whenever marketing sets project deadlines!" The marketing department was driven by business considerations, and business considerations sometimes come into direct conflict with technical realities. The following risk item issues identify generic risks associated with business impact:

• Affect of this product on company revenue?
• Visibility of this product by senior management?
• Reasonableness of delivery deadline?
• Number of customers who will use this product and the consistency of their needs relative to the product?
• Number of other products/systems with which this product must be interoperable?
• Sophistication of end users?
• Amount and quality of product documentation that must be produced and delivered to the customer?
• Governmental constraints on the construction of the product?
• Costs associated with late delivery?
• Costs associated with a defective product?

Each response for the product to be developed must be compared to past experience. If a large percentage deviation occurs or if numbers are similar, but past results were considerably less than satisfactory, risk is high.

Customer -Related Risks

All customers are not created equal. Pressman and Herron [PRE91] discuss this issue when they state:

A ‘bad’ customer can have a profound impact on a software team’s ability to complete a project on time and within budget. A bad customer represents a significant threat to the project plan and a substantial risk for the project manager. The following risk item checklist identifies generic risks associated with different customers:

• Have you worked with the customer in the past?
• Does the customer have a solid idea of what is required? Has the customer spent the time to write it down?
• Will the customer agree to spend time in formal requirements gathering meetings (Chapter 11) to identify project scope?
• Is the customer willing to establish rapid communication links with the developer?
• Is the customer willing to participate in reviews?
• Is the customer technically sophisticated in the product area?
• Is the customer willing to let your people do their job–that is, will the customer resist looking over your shoulder during technically detailed work?
• Does the customer understand the software engineering process?

If the answer to any of these questions is "no," further investigation should be undertaken to assess risk potential.

Process Risks

If the software engineering process (Chapter 2) is ill-defined; if analysis, design and testing are conducted in an ad hoc fashion; if quality is a concept that everyone agrees is important, but no one acts to achieve in any tangible way, then you've got a project that is at risk. The following questions are extracted from a workshop on the assessment of software engineering practice developed by R.S. Pressman & Associates, Inc. [PRE95]. The questions themselves have been adapted from the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) software process assessment questionnaire.

Process Issues

• Does your senior management support a written policy statement that emphasizes the importance of a standard process for software development?
• Has your organization developed a written description of the software process to be used on this project?
• Are staff members "signed-up" to the software process as it is documented and willing to use it?
• Is the software process used for other projects?
• Has your organization developed or acquired a series of software engineering training courses for managers and technical staff?
• Are published software engineering standards provided for every software developer and software manager?
• Have document outlines and examples been developed for all deliverables defined as part of the software process?
• Are formal technical reviews of the requirements specification, design and code conducted regularly?
• Are formal technical reviews of test procedures and test cases conducted regularly?
• Are the results of each formal technical review documented, including defects found and resources used?
• Is there some mechanism for ensuring that work conducted on a project conforms with software engineering standards?
• Is configuration management used to maintain consistency among system/software requirements, design, code, and test cases?
• Is a mechanism used for controlling changes to customer requirements that impact the software?
• Is there a documented statement of work, software requirements specification, and software development plan for each subcontract?
• Is a procedure followed for tracking and reviewing the performance of subcontractors?

Technical Issues

• Are facilitated application specification techniques used to aid in communication between the customer and developer?
• Are specific methods used for software analysis?
• Do you use a specific method for data and architectural design?
• Is more than 90 percent of your code written in a high order language?
• Are specific conventions for code documentation defined and used?
• Do you use specific methods for test case design?
• Are software tools used to support planning and tracking activities?
• Are configuration management software tools used to control and track change activity throughout the software process?
• Are software tools used to support the software analysis and design process?
• Are tools used to create software prototypes?
• Are software tools used to support the testing process?
• Are software tools used to support the production and management of documentation?
• Are quality metrics collected for all software projects?
• Are productivity metrics collected for all software projects?
• If a majority of the above questions are answered "no," software process is weak and risk is high.

Technology Risk

Pushing the limits of the technology is challenging and exciting. It's the dream of almost every technical person, because it forces a practitioner to use his or her skills to the fullest. But it's also very risky. Murphy's law seems to hold sway in this part of the development universe, making it extremely difficult to foresee risks, much less plan for them. The following risk item checklist identifies generic risks associated with the technology to be built:

• Is the technology to be built new to your organization?
• Do the customer's requirements demand the creation of new algorithms, input or output technology?
• Does the software interface with new or unproven hardware?
• Does the software to be built interface with vendor supplied software products that are unproven?
• Does the software to be built interface with a database system whose function and performance have not been proven in this application area?
• Is a specialized user interface demanded by product requirements?
• Do requirements for the product demand the creation of program components that are unlike any previously developed by your organization?
• Do requirements demand the use of new analysis, design or testing methods?
• Do requirements demand the use of unconventional software development methods, such as formal methods, AI-based approaches, artificial neural networks?
• Do requirements put excessive performance constraints on the product?
• Is the customer uncertain that the functionality requested is "do-able?"
• If the answer to any of these questions is "yes," further investigation should be undertaken to assess risk potential.

Development Environment Risks

If a carpenter were asked to create a fine piece of furniture with a bent, dull hand saw, the quality of the end product would be suspect. Inappropriate or ineffective tools can blunt the efforts of even a skilled practitioner. The software engineering environment supports the project team, the process, and the product. But if the environment is flawed, it can be the source of significant risk. The following risk item checklist identifies generic risks associated with the development environment:

• Is a software project management tool available?
• Is a software process management tools available?
• Are tools for analysis and design available?
• Do analysis and design tools deliver methods that are appropriate for the product to be built?
• Are compilers or code generators available and appropriate for the product to be built?
• Are testing tools available and appropriate for the product to be built?
• Are software configuration management tools available?
• Does the environment make use of a database or repository?
• Are all software tools integrated with one another?
• Have members of the project team received training in each of the tools?
• Are local experts available to answer questions about the tools?
• Is on-line help and documentation for the tools adequate?
• If a majority of the above questions are answered "no," the software development environment is weak and risk is high.

Risks Associated with Staff Size and Experience

Barry Boehm suggests the following questions to assess risks associated with staff size and experience:

• Are the best people available?
• Do the people have the right combination of skills?
• Are enough people available?
• Are staff committed for entire duration of the project?
• Will some project staff be working only part time on this project?
• Do staff have the right expectations about the job at hand?
• Have staff received necessary training?
• Will turnover among staff be low enough to allow continuity?
• If the answer to any of these questions is "no," further investigation should be undertaken to assess risk potential.
  
  
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