Book description
This is the digital version of the printed book (Copyright
© 2003).
If There’s No Risk On Your Next Project, Don’t Do
It.
Greater risk brings greater reward, especially in software development. A company that runs away from risk will soon find itself lagging behind its more adventurous competition. By ignoring the threat of negative outcomes–in the name of positive thinking or a can-do attitude–software managers drive their organizations into the ground.
In Waltzing with Bears, Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister–the best-selling authors of Peopleware–show readers how to identify and embrace worthwhile risks. Developers are then set free to push the limits.
The authors present the benefits of risk management, including that it makes aggressive risk-taking possible, protects management from getting blindsided, provides minimum-cost downside protection, reveals invisible transfers of responsibility, isolates the failure of a subproject.
Readers are armed with strategies for confronting the most common risks that software projects face: schedule flaws, requirements inflation, turnover, specification breakdown, and under-performance.
Waltzing with Bears will help you mitigate the risks–before they turn into project-killing problems. Risks are out there–and they should be there–but there is a way to manage them.
Table of contents
- About This eBook
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Also Available from Dorset House Publishing
- Acknowledgments
- Dedication Page
- Authors’ Note
- Contents
- Prologue: The Ethics of Belief
-
Part I: Why
- 1. Running Toward Risk
- 2. Risk Management Is Project Management for Adults
- 3. Denver International Airport Reconsidered
-
4. The Case for Risk Management
- Risk Management Makes Aggressive Risk-Taking Possible
- Risk Management Decriminalizes Risk
- Risk Management Sets Up Projects for Success
- Risk Management Bounds Uncertainty
- Risk Management Provides Minimum-Cost Downside Protection
- Risk Management Protects Against Invisible Transfers of Responsibility
- Risk Management Can Save Part of a Failed Effort
- Risk Management Maximizes Opportunity for Personal Growth
- Risk Management Protects Management from Getting Blindsided
- Risk Management Focuses Attention Where It Is Needed
-
Part II: Why Not
-
5. The Case Against Risk Management
- 1. Our stakeholders are not mature enough to face up to risk.
- 2. The extent of uncertainty is just too much.
- 3. Explicit windows of uncertainty excuse poor performance.
- 4. A “manage for success” approach is better.
- 5. The data needed to do risk management effectively is lacking.
- 6. Risk management in isolation is dangerous.
- 6. The Onus of Uncertainty
- 7. Luck
-
5. The Case Against Risk Management
-
Part III: How
- 8. Quantifying Uncertainty
- 9. Mechanics of Risk Management
- 10. Risk Management Prescription
- 11. Back to Basics
- 12. Tools and Procedures
- 13. Core Risks of Software Projects
- 14. A Defined Process for Risk Discovery
- 15. Risk Management Dynamics
- 16. Incrementalism for Risk Mitigation
- 17. The Ultimate Risk Mitigation Strategy
- Part IV: How Much
- Part V: Whether or Not
- Appendix A. The Ethics of Belief, Part 1
- Appendix B. Risk Template
- References
- Index
Product information
- Title: Waltzing with Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects
- Author(s):
- Release date: July 2013
- Publisher(s): Addison-Wesley Professional
- ISBN: 9780133492248
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