A Goal-driven Risk Management approach for Distributed Agile Development Projects

Abstract

Software companies are now using Distributed Agile Development (DAD) in order to create high quality solutions, which aligns with the business priorities of lesser time and cost. Although, DAD is beneficial, there are significant risks involved in such projects. In order to minimize the adverse effect of risks on DAD projects, it is imperative to understand, how the risks impact the project performance goals including ‘Time’, ‘Cost’ and ‘Quality’. In this paper we present a goal driven approach for managing risks in DAD projects. This approach of risk management will enable project managers to identify the most important risks with respect to the goal to be achieved and focus on managing those risks first. The study shows that if ‘Time’ is a considered goal for a DAD project, the most important risks that would need consideration are related to requirement management, architecture changes and coordination issues between stakeholders. Similarly, if ‘Quality’ is the primary performance goal in a DAD project, it would be necessary to first deal with risks related to internal and external communication in the organization, team collaboration and requirement documentation availability. The awareness of top ranking risk factors that impact a particular project goal will assist the projects managers to control the risks in a way that the desired project goals can be achieved.

A Systematic Review of Risk Management Tools and Techniques in Software Projects

“…Identify Risk [22] Root Cause of the Problems [23] Learning Cycle [24] Periodic Risk Reporting [22] Periodic risk status reporting…”

“…The output of this process is a Risk Register, overseen by the Project Manager or Scrum Master, wherein every team member can contribute by utilizing root cause analysis to identify potential risks [22]. Moreover, the team consistently reports risks during daily scrum meetings, ensuring that the Risk Register remains up-to-date and reflects the evolving project landscape [24].…”

“…Risks are assessed thoroughly and given a score based on the likelihood and potential impact, ranging from low, medium to high levels. Using this information, a risk matrix was created to provide a visual representation of the risks, considering their probability and severity [21], [22], [24]. In an agile context, if a risk is deemed urgent and impacts the current Sprint, immediate assessment and response via ad hoc meetings is required.…”

“…For instance, opting for a risk avoidance strategy entails the identification of associated activities and their prioritized execution in the nearest iteration. By doing so, the aim is to reduce the likelihood of the specific risk factor materializing and causing potential disruptions [24].…”

A Systematic Review of the Aspects and Benefits Agile Project Management Innovation

“…[33] PD3 Development approach and life cycle 1) Increase APM experience (APM18) [32] PD4 Planning 1) Fulfill project goals (APM8) 2) Improve effort estimation (APM11) 3) Reduce expenses (APM5, APM19) 4) Improve planning by time, cost, and quality (APM1) [22] [25] [5], [19] [15] PD5 Project work 1) Reducing the risk of time, cost, and quality based on project goal (APM22) 2) Improve managing tasks (APM12) 3) Reduce bugs (APM5) 4) Improve risk analysis (APM5) [35] [26] [19] [19] PD6 Delivery 1) Teams deliver prototypes to users regularly (APM8) 2) Contribute to project success (APM3) 3) Increase deliver time (APM5, APM19) 4) Increase time to market (APM17) [22] [17] [5], [19] [31] PD7 Measurement 1) Improve organizational long-term [20], [31]…”