In software development projects, risk-driven approaches are known to pay rich dividends. Phase-end risk reviews and appropriate responses enable projects to sail smoothly. Risks are seen as roadblocks and barriers, and diversions are taken to reach project objectives. The project team looks at risks and treats them. They are told to watch out for risks, handle them, or escalate the risk upward for higher-level involvement.

A few software development methods have admirable inherent risk treatment abilities. The evolutionary development model exposes risks clearly at every increment. The project reviews at these increments are ideally suited to detecting risks and acting upon them. Natural risk detection is superior to forced risk detection. Another life-cycle model worth considering from a risk point of view is the agile process. Certain types of risks melt in the face of organic communication methods in the agile process. For example, the ubiquitous dependency risks are weakened by the communication speeds of agile development.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 at 7:30 pm and is filed under Software Risk Management.