A Study of Software Development Project Risk Management

Most software development projects confront great risks and risks might occur in the whole development process. Success of the projects demands effective management of the risks. Five main reasons are analyzed for a complete and clear understanding of the risks. The reasons include the use of new and unproven technologies, system requirements, system architecture, system performance, and organizational or non-functional affairs. The risks can be avoided, confined, mitigated and monitored under effective management. software development project risk management should focus on reduction and prevention of risks, continuously assess possible problems, define potential risks, determine what risks are important and deal with them. Four steps and three countermeasures are put forward to cope with various risks in software development projects. The steps are risk identification, assessing the level of exposure for each risk, risk mitigation and risk conclusion. The countermeasures are careful, typical and flexible countermeasures.