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A Project View of Risk—Will Your Project Deliver?

(y Randall *. Rice+ ,TF-

Summary: Thee is a deee o0 isk in e1eythin we do+ 0om ettin up in the

monin to deployin a multi2million dolla poject that has hih 1isibility and citicality.3o0twae poject manaement is basically an e4ecise in isk manaement. And how youidenti0y and handle isk on a poject has a diect impact on the success o0 the poject.

One poblem is that people o0ten econi5e isks intuiti1ely but eally don6t ha1e a ood0amewok in which to identify and manage them. Anothe poblem is that isks come in unknown7uantities+ and thee is always the possibility that we6ll et buned by unexpected  situations  thataen6t on the assessment o watch list.

Risk Perspectives I61e leaned to keep thee pespecti1es o0 isk 0imly in 1iew. I0 I 0ocus on any one o0 these at thee4clusion o0 the othes+ I6m settin mysel0 up 0o poblems. 81en wose+ i0 I inoe any o all o0 these pespecti1es+ then I6m eally in touble9

•   The poject pespecti1eThis i1es me a poacti1e way to detemine i0 the poject is likely

to succeed o 0ail based on past lessons leaned o poject success 0actos. It can includethins such as le1els o0 leadeship+ custome in1ol1ement+ scope o0 impact+ etc.

•   The technical pespecti1eThis lets me see whee isks may e4ist in a system o poject.

Technical isks allow me to pioiti5e testin to 0ocus on the citical 0eatues o0 a poject. Fo e4ample+ I will want to 0ocus on the nuclea eacto shutdown se7uence moe than the0unctions 0o epotin daily tasks completed

•   The business o mission pespecti1eThis allows me to detemine the citicality o0 a

0unction o se1ice to the people I se1e 1icaiously thouh the system. Fo e4ample+ will a0eatue ha1e pi1ate in0omation that must be kept secue? ;ow many people will a 0unctionimpact? $oes the 0eatue i1e ou business a competiti1e ad1antae?

A Project View of Risk—From a Differet A!le To discuss all o0 the aspects o0 these isk pespecti1es could take lone than we ha1e in thisaticle. 3o+ I want to deal with a pespecti1e o0 isk that is o0ten minimi5edthe poject pespecti1e.

*hen people do pe0om a poject isk assessment+ they typically do it once duin the poject. Thisis un0otunate+ because isks chane constantly thouhout a poject. These types o0 iskassessments typically look at how  the poject is conducted+ which is impotant. ;owe1e+ I want toe4ploe an anle that I ha1e 0ound to be 1ey help0ul in keepin a poject on tack 0om a 7ualitypespecti1e and that can diectly intesect with testin.

"ritical Success Factors 

On any i1en poject+ thee will be cetain success citeia. Fo e4ample+ on most pojectscoectness is hih on the list. %ou also may 0ind othe 0actos such as usability+ secuity+ eliability+pe0omance+ maintainability+ and potability. These o0ten ae called <non20unctional< attibutes sincethey elate moe to what the system o application should <be< athe than what it should <do.<

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These en1isioned success citeia o0ten ae called "RITI,A- S,,833 F A,TOR3 >"SFs. Althouh they could numbe o1e ten 0o some pojects+ the wokable numbe to assess is in the si4to eiht ane. @eep in mind that each ,3F has a distinct 0ocus and associated needs >people+tools+ pocesses+ etc. to make it a eality.

So# make your list# a$ t%e prioriti&e it carefully 'a mii risk assessmet()

A *eam Approac% +s ,oo$ 

I like to 0om a small team o0 0ou to si4 people who conduct this type o0 isk assessment. Fist+ theydiscuss the de0initions o0 isks to a1oid atin too many isks as <hih.< Then you et the chance toha1e people in1ol1ed 0om the 1aious poject oles+ such as de1elopes+ testes+ and pojectmanaes. Finally+ the team helps to cay the wokloadalthouh this is not a hea1y pocess.

9Tip: Ty to keep the same assessment team intact 0o the entie poject+ since the assessmentwill need to be pe0omedo at least updatedthouhout the poject. ,ontinuity is a ood thin9

Ask t%e Ri!%t -uestios 

The key to pe0omin this assessment is 0ound in the 7uestions asked 0o each ,3F. %ou oal isto disco1e whethe o not the iht thins ae bein done to achie1e each success 0acto.,on1esely+ you ae also tyin to disco1e i0 the won thins ae bein a1oided.

Instead o0 thinkin o0 these 7uestions on the spot+ I pe0e usin a pede1eloped 7uestionnaie.(esides the eusability and consistency o0 the 7uestionnaie+ anothe ad1antae o0 this appoach isthat it allows me to conduct eithe an inte1iew o a su1ey+ dependin on which is the mostappopiate 0o the time at hand.

 As an e4ample+ let6s take the most common ,3F+ coectness. %ou oal is to assess the ability o0 the poject to deli1e a coect system o application. Thee0oe+ the 7uestions you ask people

should diectly petain to this 0acto. 84amples include:•   Ae use e7uiements de0ined in witin 0o all 0eatues?

•   Ae e1iews o e7uiements pe0omed consistently?

•   Is unit testin pe0omed consistently?

%ou will notice that these ae all yes2o2no 7uestions. That6s because I like to keep the assessmentsimple. %ou may 0ind that a one2to2si4 scale woks bette 0o you+ especially i0 the answes aen6t sowell de0ined in you situation.

%ou6ll also notice that some o0 these 7uestions aen6t answeable ealy in the poject. That6s whyyou will need to e1ise you 7uestions+ dependin on when in the poject you ask them.

-uatifyi! t%e Resposes

 Althouh you could et some 1alue 0om just askin the 7uestions+ I like to make this assessment adashboad item. To do this+ you need to 7uanti0y the 7uestionnaie esults.

Fist+ assin a weihtin 0acto to each 7uestion. I use a ane 0om one to 0i1e+ whee one is theleast impotant 7uestion and 0i1e is most impotant.

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Then+ when the 7uestionnaie has been completed+ you take the scoe 0o each 7uestion andmultiply it by the weihtin 0acto. A <no< esponse on a 7uestion ets a scoe o0 5eo.

Finally+ sum the multiplied scoes and di1ide by the total possible scoe to et a pecentae scoe0o the citical success 0acto. Fo e4ample:

Score Weight Weighted

Score

1. Are user requirements defined inwriting for all features?

1 5 5

2. Are reviews or requirements performedconsistently?

0 0

!. "s unit testing performed consistently? 1 ! !

  #otal 2 12 $

8iht di1ided by twel1e yields a scoe o0 ' pecent.

ow+ continue this pocess 0o all the ,3Fs you wish to assess. I0 you use a su1ey appoachwhee se1eal people ae completin the 7uestionnaie 0o the same ,3F+ you can a1eae the 0inalpecentae scoe.

,etti! Visual To pesent the assessment esults in an easy2to2undestand 0ashion+ I use Kiviat  chats. 3omepeople call this chat a ada chat.

8ach ,3F is shown on a sepaate spoke+ with the pecentae scoes shown on concentic cicles+as shown in 0iue .

The beauty o0 the @i1iat chat is that it immediately e1eals two thins: the deee o0 co1eae and

! stenths and weaknesses. In this e4ample the co1eae isn6t all that eat+ and we see twomajo weak points: secuity and compatibility. Anothe bene0it o0 @i1iat chats is that you can place them in a dashboad o pesentation

and e4plain them 7uickly. All o0 this in0omation is eat+ but unless action is taken+ little 1alue will be seen.

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"oclusio  As the poject poesses+ you should see the chat become moe 0illed and the aps eliminated.Remembe that isk assessments ae snapshots at any i1en point in the poject. 3ince the iskschane+ you will need to pe0om multiple assessments thouhout the poject.

 Also+ keep in mind that any isk assessment can contain eos+ biases+ and misassumptions+ so

use you intuition and continencies to balance this possibility. This 1iew o0 isk assessment is one that can keep you poject on tack+ yet it seldom is pe0omedon pojects. I0 it is pe0omed+ it is pesented at the end o0 the poject. This is the one pespecti1ethat senio manaement and stakeholdes need to see. Ideally+ this type o0 isk assessment shouldbe owned by the poject manae+ who is in the best position to take action.

I hope this adds a help0ul+ isk2based tool to you collection. Fo me+ it has been 1ey 1aluable. Furt%er Rea$i! 

Randy Rice6s set o0 7uestionnaies in B3 *od 0omat.

A.out t%e Aut%or 

Randall Rice is a practitioner, trainer, and consultant in the field of software testing and software quality assurance. He is co-author of Surviving the Top Ten Challenges of Software Testing and the forthcoming oo! Testing "irty Systems. #andy is a regular spea!er at ST$#%$ST, ST$#&%ST, and %uroStar conferences. 'ou can reach him at  mailto: iceCiceconsultin.com o by 1isitin www.iceconsultin.com.