Dancing with the Bear: Software Project Risk Management: Software Project Risk Management

Author: Tom DeMarco Timothy Lister
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward—especially in the software industry. Companies that avoid risk will soon be left far behind by their competitors. However, due to the imprudence of managers (who prefer to call it "optimistic thinking" or an "I can do it" attitude), software companies are often put in an awkward dilemma: either take the risk and fail, or avoid the risk and fall behind. In Dancing with Bears, Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister—the very authors of the bestseller Peopleware—tell readers how to identify risks and boldly (and cautiously) embrace valuable risks. This way, developers no longer have to be caught between a rock and a hard place. In the book, the authors demonstrate the benefits of risk management:
? Risk management allows companies to actively embrace risk.
? It prevents management from being blind-sided.
? It enables projects to handle risks with minimal cost.
? It clarifies accountability.
? It ensures that the failure of a subproject doesn’t derail the entire project.
By the end of the book, readers will gain enough knowledge to confidently face the most common risks in software projects:
? (schedule slippage)
? (scope creep)
? (staff turnover)
? (specification collapse)
? (inefficiency)
Dancing with Bears will help you mitigate risks—before they become "project killers." Risks will always exist (and should), but you can manage them.