Risk management in software engineering has become a recognized project management practice but it seems that not all companies are systematically applying it. At the same time, agile methods have become popular, partly because proponents claim that agile methods implicitly reduce risks due to for example, more frequent and earlier feedback, shorter periods of development time and easier prediction of cost. Therefore, there is a need to investigate how risk management can be usable in iterative and evolutionary software development processes. This research work aims to answer this need by building an appropriate and realistic model of risk management and to support this with a tool for managing risk in agile projects. The approach can be characterized as lightweight risk management which provides the needs of risk management but limits the human effort expended. This is achieved by using software agents to carry out risk identification, risk assessment and risk monitoring, the agents making use of data collected from the project environment. This thesis describes a new solution approach supported by an Agile Risk Tool (ART) which includes a model of the risk environment and support for risk management in agile development environments. In the approach used, the project manager has to define these elements: project goals, problem scenarios, consequences, risk indicators, project environment data as well as specifying risk rules using a predefined 'Rule template'. Therefore risk can be explicitly managed in the early phase of the project, leaving the designated software agents to monitor the rest. The ART model and tool support is evaluated using two case studies, both from student projects. Evidence is therefore provided for the feasibility and applicability of the approach. Overall, the research contributes a new method for risk management in agile software processes, the necessary tool support to demonstrate the method in practice as well as providing evidence to support the efficacy of the approach. In addition, an example is given of the use of software agents as a potential means to reduce the burden of risk management in software projects.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:696155 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Odzaly, Edzreena Edza |
| Publisher | Queen's University Belfast |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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