Our Approach To Risk
Building software involves risk. If you have been involved in software projects
in the past you will understand this. Quite simply, building software well is a
complex operation that involves many individuals. Our methods concentrate on managing
risk in five ways:
- Communication Risk - We seek to minimize miscommunications between
developers and the business team by working in short iterations, showing our progress
every day, and defining testable acceptance criteria for each feature.
- Schedule Risk - To reduce schedule risk, we deliver working software
every 2-4 weeks. In business, change is a constant, and our planning system accomodates
change. Large systems take many iterations to complete. However, our exclusive
daily reports
provide you with project metrics e.g. team velocity and trend analysis that let
you control the schedule.
- Cost Risk - Cost risk usually results from schedule issues. We
seek to reduce cost risk the same way as schedule risk. You control the costs by
planning one iteration at a time. The software industry is famous for colossal project
failures. These have tought us that working in small increments is always best because
as projects get larger, so does the margin of cost estimation errors.
- Quality Risk - As we have mentioned, quality means different things
to different people. We seek to minimize the risk of quality failing to meet your
expectations through daily automated inspection builds, daily quality and progress
reports,
and demonstrations at the end of each iteration. We make our work visible for your
inspection, and we adapt.
- Control Risk - The business team is always in control of our software
projects. To remove the risk that your business team might lose control, we plan
each iteration together with the business team in an intensive workshop. The business
team has the final say over what work gets done and how it is prioritized. The business
team also controls the schedule.