Better Software - June 2008 - (Page 31) i s k management is an illusion. Risks cannot be managed in software development projects because they are either unmentionable, uncontrollable, unquantifiable, or unknown. Projects run into problems because they are hit by something that everyone knew about but was unable to talk about, something totally unexpected, something that was rated as highly unlikely, or something that was made worse by the “mitigation strategy.” If risks were truly manageable, we would see far fewer projects that end up stressed—or rather, with team members who are stressed because they are faced with a project that is not going anywhere near as planned. In practice, however, most projects end up stressed in one way or another, so a project that finishes on time, on budget, and with all of the initially planned features is a rarity (unless the numbers are adjusted as the project proceeds). We would all like project life to be simple—to have a magic fix that would make project failures go away—but there is no such thing. Indeed, it seems that managers are trained to assume that project failures are due to a single specific cause—misunderstanding of what the users need, key items delivered late, defect counts rising as the project nears its release date, or loss of key people. Reality suggests otherwise: Projects rarely fail because of one single identifiable cause. A classic example of this is the Challenger disaster. Yes, the “ultimate” cause made for a great sound bite on TV, with Dr. Richard Feynman showing that the O-rings were not elastic at low temperatures, but it was not as simple as that. The minority report [1] written by Feynman showed that there were many other things that were disasters just waiting to happen. To avoid being taken in by the myth of risk management, we must recognize that software projects are inherently risky and failure prone. Rather than assume we can identify and “mitigate” the risks we will face, or assume that this time our project will be different, we must assume that we are doing something that is leading our project closer to failure. www.StickyMinds.com JUNE 2008 BETTER SOFTWARE R Project Failures Are Not Simple 31 http://www.StickyMinds.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Better Software - June 2008 Better Software - June 2008 Contents Mark Your Calendar Contributors Technically Speaking eLightenment Code Craft Test Connection Management Chronicles Agile Model-Driven Development The Myth of Risk Management Stop the Insanity! Product Announcements 10 Things You Might Not Know About … The Last Word Ad Index Better Software - June 2008 Better Software - June 2008 - (Page Intro) Better Software - June 2008 - Better Software - June 2008 (Page Cover1) Better Software - June 2008 - Better Software - June 2008 (Page Cover2) Better Software - June 2008 - Better Software - June 2008 (Page 1) Better Software - June 2008 - Better Software - June 2008 (Page 2) Better Software - June 2008 - Contents (Page 3) Better Software - June 2008 - Mark Your Calendar (Page 4) Better Software - June 2008 - Mark Your Calendar (Page 5) Better Software - June 2008 - Mark Your Calendar (Page 6) Better Software - June 2008 - Mark Your Calendar (Page 7) Better Software - June 2008 - Contributors (Page 8) Better Software - June 2008 - Contributors (Page Telelogic1) Better Software - June 2008 - Contributors (Page Telelogic2) Better Software - June 2008 - Contributors (Page 9) Better Software - June 2008 - Contributors (Page 10) Better Software - June 2008 - Technically Speaking (Page 11) Better Software - June 2008 - eLightenment (Page 12) Better Software - June 2008 - eLightenment (Page 13) Better Software - June 2008 - Code Craft (Page 14) Better Software - June 2008 - Code Craft (Page 15) Better Software - June 2008 - Code Craft (Page 16) Better Software - June 2008 - Code Craft (Page COD1) Better Software - June 2008 - Code Craft (Page COD2) Better Software - June 2008 - Code Craft (Page COD3) Better Software - June 2008 - Code Craft (Page COD4) Better Software - June 2008 - Code Craft (Page 17) Better Software - June 2008 - Test Connection (Page 18) Better Software - June 2008 - Test Connection (Page 19) Better Software - June 2008 - Management Chronicles (Page 20) Better Software - June 2008 - Management Chronicles (Page 21) Better Software - June 2008 - Agile Model-Driven Development (Page 22) Better Software - June 2008 - Agile Model-Driven Development (Page 23) Better Software - June 2008 - Agile Model-Driven Development (Page 24) Better Software - June 2008 - Agile Model-Driven Development (Page 25) Better Software - June 2008 - Agile Model-Driven Development (Page 26) Better Software - June 2008 - Agile Model-Driven Development (Page 27) Better Software - June 2008 - Agile Model-Driven Development (Page 28) Better Software - June 2008 - Agile Model-Driven Development (Page 29) Better Software - June 2008 - The Myth of Risk Management (Page 30) Better Software - June 2008 - The Myth of Risk Management (Page 31) Better Software - June 2008 - The Myth of Risk Management (Page 32) Better Software - June 2008 - The Myth of Risk Management (Page 33) Better Software - June 2008 - The Myth of Risk Management (Page 34) Better Software - June 2008 - The Myth of Risk Management (Page 35) Better Software - June 2008 - Stop the Insanity! (Page 36) Better Software - June 2008 - Stop the Insanity! (Page 37) Better Software - June 2008 - Stop the Insanity! (Page 38) Better Software - June 2008 - Stop the Insanity! (Page 39) Better Software - June 2008 - Stop the Insanity! (Page 40) Better Software - June 2008 - Stop the Insanity! (Page 41) Better Software - June 2008 - Stop the Insanity! (Page 42) Better Software - June 2008 - Stop the Insanity! (Page 43) Better Software - June 2008 - Product Announcements (Page 44) Better Software - June 2008 - Product Announcements (Page 45) Better Software - June 2008 - 10 Things You Might Not Know About … (Page 46) Better Software - June 2008 - The Last Word (Page 47) Better Software - June 2008 - Ad Index (Page 48) Better Software - June 2008 - Ad Index (Page Cover3) Better Software - June 2008 - Ad Index (Page Cover4)
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