What Is Software Risk?

Software Risks

• Project risks - threaten the project plan
• Technical risks - threaten product quality and the timeliness of the schedule
• Business risks - threaten the viability of the software to be built (market risks,(no one want) strategic risks, (building a product that no longer fit 4 business) management risks, (losing the support senior management) budget risks, (losing budgetary or personnel commitment) sale risk (sales force doesn't understand how to sell)

• Known risks - predictable from careful evaluation of current project plan and those calculate from past project experience e.g unrealistic delivery, poor development environment, staff turn over
• Unknown risks - some problems simply occur without warning
• They can & do occur, but are extremely difficult in advance


Seven Principles

• Maintain a global perspective—view software risks within the context of system and the business problem
• Take a forward-looking view—think about the risks that may arise in the future;  establish contingency plans
• Encourage open communication—if someone states a potential risk, don't discount it.
• Integrate—a consideration of risk must be integrated into the software processDevelop a shared product vision—if all stakeholders share the same vision of the software, it likely that better risk identification and assessment will occur.
• Encourage teamwork—the talents, skills and knowledge of all stakeholder should be pooled
• Emphasize a continuous process—the team must be vigilant throughout the software process, modifying identified risks as more information is known and adding new ones as better insight is achieved

Risk Checklist Items

o Product size
o Business impact
o Customer characteristics
o Process definition
o Development environment
o Technology to be built
o Staff size and experience

With the passage of time the failure chance of the software decreases but when new technologies are introduced the failure chance increases.  

That is what called software risk.