Risk Management

25 January

What is due next week Website: Monday (send me URL as

soon as you have it) Team rules: Monday Functional spec: Tuesday Project plan: Wednesday (Hours sheets will be at team

meetings beginning next week)

Web site content project description contact information schedule of weekly meetings project plan functional spec contract design document all user manuals test plan journal of meetings and decisions. related links

Software Engineering Fundamental Steps Requirements Design Implementation Integration Test

Requirements

A few more things

Case Study: FBI Virtual Case File Purpose: to give FBI agents and analysts an instantaneous

and paperless way to manage criminal and terrorism cases 4 years in development What was delivered

only a fraction of capabilities “2001 software ... with ‘a number of deficiencies’ and security

flaws” contractor says it delivered the initial operation capability in

December 2004 as agreed to What happened

Scope creep Changes in management Changes in technology

Cost: $170 million Result: RFP issued for commercial system 9 months after

delivery

The right software, delivered defect free, on time and on cost, every time.

Compare with

Quantifying Usability: Examples

Example measures Example targets

Productivity Successful task completion rate

85%

Time to complete a task 15 secs.

Task error rate and severity

< 5% Sev ‘2’

Satisfaction attributes

User sat rating for (f)unction, (r)eliability ,etc.

f=88, r=95

User rating of importance for (f)unction, (r)eliability, etc.

f=90, r=80

Risk Management

Life is a risk.Diane Von Furstenberg

Should we eliminate risk? Take calculated risks. That is quite

different from being rash. (Patton) Great deeds are usually wrought at

great risks. (Herodotus) Great deeds are usually wrought at

great risks. (Nehru) No risk => no challenge

Risks 80% of software projects fail

Two types of risk Avoidable Unavoidable

Risk Management1. Identification2. Mitigation plan3. Prioritization4. Retirement

Sources of Risk1. Top management commitment2. User commitment3. Misunderstood requirements4. Inadequate user involvement5. Mismanaged user expectations6. Scope creep7. Lack of knowledge or skill

Keil et al, “A Framework for Identifying Software Project Risks,” CACM 41:11, November 1998.

Technical Risks New features New technology Developer

learning curve Changes that may

affect old code Dependencies Complexity

Bug history Late changes Rushed work Tired

programmers Slipped in “pet”

features Unbudgeted items

Why Project Management?The problem …(From businessballs.com)

Project and People Management Combined or separate functions? In small projects, usually combined Large projects often have a separate

project manager Manager is responsible for both But delegates project management to

someone with specific training For our purpose, we will exclude

people management

Project Management Scope Schedule: times at which the work

portions are to be performed Managerial process: reports,

meetings, responsibilities Structure: organizational elements Development process: methods,

tools, languages, documentation and support

Project Management Tasks Management process

Define and drive Schedule Staffing plan Risk Management Development process Document identification

Organization Needed to control communications cost

Channel of communications costs about 2 hours per week

Optimal number 3-7 Organization structures

Hierarchical Peer

Requires leader of team or aspects Subteam

Requires gatekeeper Matrix

What can you be controlled? Cost

Number of people Hours worked Hardware and software used

Capability Function that you ship

Quality Procedures that increase cost and quality Testing

Delivery Dates

So what will you do if you’re behind?