More than half of all software development projects are over time or over cost according to a survey by Coopers & Lybrand in the United Kingdom--a finding borne out in New Zealand by education and training company Software Education.
The Wellington-based company ran a course on risk management and surveyed 20 participants to discover that:
* A minority of New Zealand software developers practise formal software risk management for software development projects. Implementation increases with increasing size of the IT department.
* Around 50% of respondents “know risk management is important, but ...” they don’t have the time or money or skills to implement it properly.
* Very few organisations--even those which claim they are taking software risk management seriously--have well-defined standards and systems for software risk management, and where software risk management is in place, it is usually performed by the project manager--something Software Education deems inappropriate.
Software Education is running regular courses on how to analyse major risk factors for a project and how to mitigate them.
The next course will be held in Wellington on November 7 and 8. Contact Software Education, ph: 0-4-568 7806.