Page 120 - DCAP305_PRINCIPLES_OF_SOFTWARE_ENGINEERING

Principles of Software Engineering

Notes • Number of other products/systems with which this product must be interoperable?
• Sophistication of end users?
• Amount and quality of product documentation that must be produced and delivered to
the customer?
• Governmental constraints on the construction of the product?
• Costs associated with late delivery?
• Costs associated with a defective product?

Each response for the product to be developed must be compared to past experience. If large
percentage deviations occurs or if numbers are similar, but past results were considerably less
than satisfactory, risk is high.
Customer Related Risks
All customers are not created equal. Pressman and Herron discuss this issue when they state.

Customers have different needs. Some know what they want; others know what they do not want.
Some know what they want others know what they do not want. Some customers are willing
to sweat the details, while others are satisfied with vague promises.
Customers have different personalities. Some enjoy being customers-the tension, the negotiation,
and the psychological rewards of a good product. Others would prefer not to be customers at
all. Some will happily accept almost anything that is delivered and make the very best of a poor
product. Others will complain bitterly when quality is lacking, some will show their appreciation
when quality is good a few will complain no matter what.
Customers also have varied associations with their suppliers. Some know the product and producer
well. Others may be faceless, communicating with the producer only by written correspondence
and a few hurried telephone calls.
Customers are often contradictory. They want everything yesterday for free. Often, the producer
is caught among the customer’s own contradictions.
A bad customer can have a profound impact on a software team’s ability to complete a project
on time and within budget. A bad customer represents a significant threat to the project plan
and a substantial risk for the project manager. The following risk item checklist identifies generic
risk associated with different customers.
• Have you worked with the customer in the past?

• Does the customer have a solid idea of what is required? Has the customer spent the time
to write it down?
• Will the customer agree to spend time in formal requirements gathering meetings to
identify project scope?
• Is the customer willing to participate in reviews?
• Is the customer technically sophisticated in the product area?
• Is the customer willing to let your people do their job that is, will the customer resist
looking over your shoulder during technically detailed work?
• Does the customer understand the software process?

Process Risks
If the software process is ill defined if analysis design and testing are conducted in an ad-hoc
fashion if quality is a concept that everyone agrees is important, but no one acts to achieve in

114 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY