Software Engineering Risk Management (PDF)

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2004 in the subject Computer Science - Commercial Information Technology, grade: 1,0 (A), University Karlsruhe (TH) (Institute for Computer Science), language: English, abstract: While computer scientists have developed and provided several powerful computer languages and techniques in the last decades, facilitating the development of modular, maintainable and e±cient code, software development itself has changed fundamentally. Software development today treats often with large-scale projects, immense development costs, and complex sys- tems which typically deploy multiple technologies and require multiple participants for their development. As with any large development exercise, the development of a complex system must be systematic and structured in order to manage this complexity, and in order to make possible the future maintenance and evolution of the system. Thus, while systematic and structured approaches are necessary for the development of such systems, software engineers have attempted to provide the structured methodologies and formalisms so often lacking in large software development projects. However, software development projects are still related with many di®erent high risks. These risks cause software engineering projects to exceed bud- gets, miss deadlines, or deliver less than satisfactory products. As an example, U.S. companies alone spent an estimated $59 billion in cost overruns on IT projects and another $81 billion on cancelled software projects in 1995 (Johnson 1995). One reason for these high costs is that managers are not using adequate measures and executing e±cient risk management assess and mitigate the risks involved in these projects.

Although risk taking is essential to progress, and failure is often a key part of learning, the inevitability of risks does not imply the inability to recognize and manage risks to minimize potential negative consequences while retaining the opportunities for creating new and better software. Obviously, this risk management process is particularly di±cult for large-scale soft- ware projects and be handled in the same way as for small project, or just by providing more resources for all development factors.