Finding Risk

Overview

Almost all software projects are exposed to certain risks such as Requirements Churn, Incorrect Estimates and Staff Turnover (Waltzing with Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects - Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister). Agile development helps mitigate these risks, but what about other risks that threaten the success of our projects?

In this hands-on workshop we will explore what we mean by 'Risk' and use techniques to help us discover risks in projects.

Timeline and Duration

This workshop is designed to last 1 hour with a high degree of participation by attendees throughout the session. It is structured in the following way:

Discussion about Risk and what it means in a software development environment: 15 mins
Discussion on reasons why Risk is hard to identify: 5 mins
Explanation of a specific brainstorming technique to find risk: 5 mins
Actual brainstorming session where participants get to use this technique: 30 mins
Short discussion into any insights we learnt during the workshop: 5 mins

A Process for Risk Discovery

The technique used for risk discovery is one outlined in the book Walzting With Bears (Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister). It is a stepped process which uses ploys to aid the participant to see things he may oherwise miss. The participants first brainstorm on possible Catastrophic Outcomes of a project then think of Scenarios that can lead to these outcomes. Finally one or more Root Causes are identified for each scenario - these become our risks.

Audience and Benefits

In this workshop, the attendees will learn and experience a technique for risk identification as well as a general appriciation and understanding of Risk Management.

The workshop can be attended by anyone interested in improving the way software projects are run through the practice of risk management. While general knowledge about software development is required, no specialized knowledge in project management, programming or people management is needed.

All equipment needed such as pens and post-it notes will be supplied by workshop organiser.

About James Pullicino

James Pullicino is a software project manager with a special interest in managing risk. He has over ten years experience in the field of software development and has spent the last four years managing projects at the BBC, where he currently works.

Full CV

Comments

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I am thinking of extending the workshop to 90 mins instead of 60 mins to give more time for the brainstorming part. Any thoughts?

Really like the practical nature of this session :)

Hi Luca,

The workshop has two primary purposes which are to teach risk identification and to introduce participants to the explicit management of risk on projects. Things like monitoring and assesing risk likelyhood as well as mitigating, containing and monitoring risk will be covered in the workshop but very lightly. Most time will be spent on discussing what we mean by risk and learning a risk discovery technique.

I'm specially interested on how to identify risks in a feedback loop as soon as they became more likely to affect the project: what feedback loop to setup, what to monitor, how to react.

Does this whoworkshop explore also this topic ?

Thanks for the feedback. I added more detail such as a timeline, agenda, audience and benefits.

Managing risk is certainly a relevant topic. This description is a little brief, can you add some detail about the hands-on nature of the workshop? Can you outline a timeline of activities? This will help us to judge whether the session would work well at XPDay.

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Last Modified 2009-09-01