Defining Indicators for Risk Assessment in Software Development Projects

Abstract

The usage of indicators acts in both strategic and tactical levels, it is effective for optimization of processes and also supports managerial decisions. Despite the relevance of risk management in software projects, it is in fact still usually overlooked by the organizations that develop software. One reason for this fact is that the concept of risk is abstract and subjective, and its management does not bring apparent immediate practical result. Differently, for example, in the financial market, where the risk management is consolidated and widely applied, and it is currently a need for the companies that work in this field. Briefly, risk management practices just became effectively consolidated in the financial market field when the uncertainties became measurable. In this context, this paper aims to define and propose indicators that are specific for environments of software projects in order to support risk assessment activities – risk identification and risk analysis. To achieve this objective, we first developed a systematic mapping study in order to collect evidences about metrics, indicators and relevant information for risk assessment. These findings were combined with the identification of measurable risk factors, providing, thus, a set of categorized indicators for software development environments.

An Enhanced Risk Assessment Framework for Software Development in Multiple Projects Environment

“…Menezes, Júlio et al [19] developed a systematic mapping study to define and propose indicators to support risk assessment activities-in environments of multiple software projects to provide a set of categorized indicators, that allow providing initial ways in the designing of this model through the availability and use of information that indicate risks. Shehzad, Awan, Lali, and Aslam [20] conducted an extensive systematic literature review to achieve high validity to identify software risk list for outsourced and in-house development.…”

“…Risk Points [19] aim at assessing the complexity of a software project based on a number of identified aspects to measure the risk level of a project. Financial Feasibility is helpful to perform an ante project risk assessment, verifying if the estimated cost is really feasible.…”

“…Risks can be identified by providing records of previous activities or events and categories according to SEI Taxonomy [19].…”

Risk Management in Scrum Projects: A Bibliometric Study

“…Scrum lifecycle allows product tracking and the identification of impediments. Some authors define the impediment as a project risk [37], [38], while others state that there are differences between these two concepts [39], [42], [43].…”

RSKManager – Um Jogo para Apoiar o Ensino de Gerência de Riscos em Projetos de Software

“…O gerenciamento de riscos em projetos de software evoluiu nos últimos anos, passando de uma iniciativa pioneira (Boehm, 1988) para uma área de interesse atual, dada a diversidade de abordagens existentes, modelos e processos que lidam com o risco em um projeto (Menezes et al, 2013;Cooper, 2005) e trata fundamentalmente de se tomar as melhores decisões diante da ocorrência de uma situação desejada ou não.…”