ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF SOFTWARE TECHNICAL RISK

This three-part paper addresses the modeling and management of software technical risk from the life-cycle perspectives of software development. Part I provides a) an overview of the emergence of software as a powerful instrument in today's society and technology, b) an insight into the evolution of subspecializations in engineering fields, and c) an outline of the conceptual framework for the modeling and management of software technical risk developed in this paper. Part II establishes the foundations upon which the conceptual framework is developed. Basic concepts in software risk assessment are introduced, focusing on software technical risk and on its distinction from software non-technical risk. The powershift paradigm-the shift of importance from hardware to software-and its profound implications on software technical risk management are discussed. The quintessential consequence of the powershift from hardware to software which hardware assumes the component implementation role and software assumes the systems implementation role-is its total influence on the understanding and the assessment of software technical risk. Part II concludes with the challenges and opportunities facing the professional community in the communication of software technical risk. The conceptual framework for the modeling and management of software technical risk is ultimately developed in Part III. Four major internal and external forces, which operate in the environment of software development, are discussed: the culture and nature of the organization, the software powershift paradigm-the shift in functionality and in decisionmaking from hardware to software engineers, technological innovation and know-how, and other forces, such as the marketplace. The software development activity itself is characterized by five major traits: the management of change, the protection against organizational failure, the maturity of the development process, design and technological capability, and technological know-how. Influenced and driven by the internal and external environment, these five traits generate software risks of two types-technical risk and non-technical risk. To assess and manage these risks, a holistic framework based on hierarchical holographic modeling developed by the authors in a previous paper is adopted. The assessment and management of risk should ultimately enable any organization involved in software development to meet its product quality and performance goals while controlling costs and schedule.