Managing Risk: Methods for Software Systems Development

13 Improve Practice

The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.

—Napoleon Hill

We often rely on a system of checks and balances to maintain satisfactory process results. For example, we rely on the president, the Congress, and the Supreme Court to maintain democracy in our country. Laws are amended through a legal process designed to ensure liberty and justice. The U.S. Constitution has endured due to this system of checks and balances and the flexibility to create new laws to take the place of those that are outmoded. Similarly, a system for managing risk requires checks and balances to sustain the practice over time. We must periodically check our risk ...