Project Risk Management

Managing risk is essential for every organization. However, significant opportunities may be lost by concentrating on the negative aspects of risk without bearing in mind the positive attributes. The objective of Project Risk Management: Managing Software Development Risk is to provide a distinct approach to a broad range of risks and rewards associated with the design, development, implementation and deployment of software systems.

The traditional perspective of software development risk is to view risk as a negative characteristic associated with the impact of potential threats. The perspective of this book is to explore a more discerning view of software development risks, including the positive aspects of risk associated with potential beneficial opportunities. A balanced approach requires that software project managers approach negative risks with a view to reduce the likelihood and impact on a software project, and approach positive risks with a view to increase the likelihood of exploiting opportunities.

Project Risk Management: Managing Software Development Risk explores software development risk both from a technological and business perspective. Issues regarding strategies for software development are discussed and topics including risks related to technical performance, outsourcing, cybersecurity, scheduling, quality, costs, opportunities and competition are presented. Bringing together concepts across the broad spectrum of software engineering with a project management perspective, this volume represents both a professional and scholarly perspective on the topic.

The objective of the multi-volume book Developments in Managing and Exploiting

Risk is to offer a balanced view to enable the reader to better appreciate risk as a

counterpart to reward, and to understand how to holistically manage both elements of this

duality. Crises can challenge any organization, and with a seemingly endless stream of

disruptive and even catastrophic events taking place, there is an increasing emphasis on

preparing for the worst. However, being focused on the negative aspects of risk, without

giving consideration to the positive attributes, may be shortsighted. Playing it safe may not

always be the best policy, because great benefits may be missed.

Analyzing risk is difficult, in part because it often entails events that have never

occurred. Organizations, being mindful of undesirable potential events, are often keenly

averse to risk to the detriment of capitalizing on its potential opportunities. Risk is usually

perceived as a negative or downside but a commensurate weight should also be given to

the potential rewards or upside, when evaluating new ventures. Even so, too much of a

good thing may create unintended consequences of positive risk, which is also an

undesirable situation. Developments in Managing and Exploiting Risk provides a

professional and scholarly venue in the critical field of risk in business with particular

emphasis on decision-making using a comprehensive and inclusive approach.