Waltzing With Bears Managing Risk On Software Projects

Waltzing with Bears

Any software project that's worth starting will be vulnerable to risk. Since greater risks bring greater rewards, 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. You'll find that risk management 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 taught to identify the most common risks faced by software projects: schedule flaws; requirements inflation; turnover; specification breakdown; and under-performance. Packed with provocative insights, real-world examples, and project-saving tips, Waltzing with Bears is your guide to mitigating the risks---before they turn into problems.

Waltzing with Bears

Manage It!

This book is a reality-based guide for modern projects. You'll learn how to recognize your project's potholes and ruts, and determine the best way to fix problems - without causing more problems. Your project can't fail. That's a lot of pressure on you, and yet you don't want to buy into any one specific process, methodology, or lifecycle. Your project is different. It doesn't fit into those neat descriptions. Manage It! will show you how to beg, borrow, and steal from the best methodologies to fit your particular project. It will help you find what works best for you and not for some mythological project that doesn't even exist. Before you know it, your project will be on track and headed to a successful conclusion.