27 November 2007

Software Engineering: Risks (Just the Quotes)

"The major distinguishing feature of the spiral model is that it creates a risk-driven approach to the software process rather than a primarily document-driven or code-driven process. It incorporates many of the strengths of other models and resolves many of their difficulties." (Barry Boehm, "A spiral model of software development and enhancement", IEEE, 1988)

"Refactoring is risky. It requires changes to working code that can introduce subtle bugs. Refactoring, if not done properly, can set you back days, even weeks. And refactoring becomes riskier when practiced informally or ad hoc." (Erich Gamma, 2002)

"The business of believing only what you have a right to believe is called risk management." (Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister, "Waltzing with Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects", 2003)

"Developing fewer features allows you to conserve development resources and spend more time refining those features that users really need. Fewer features mean fewer things to confuse users, less risk of user errors, less description and documentation, and therefore simpler Help content. Removing any one feature automatically increases the usability of the remaining ones." (Jakob Nielsen, "Prioritizing Web Usability", 2006)

"Duplication is the primary enemy of a well-designed system. It represents additional work, additional risk, and additional unnecessary complexity."  (Robert C Martin, "Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship", 2008)

"Modeling is the creation of abstractions or representations of the system to predict and analyze performance, costs, schedules, and risks and to provide guidelines for systems research, development, design, manufacture, and management. Modeling is the centerpiece of systems architecting - a mechanism of communication to clients and builders, of design management with engineers and designers, of maintaining system integrity with project management, and of learning for the architect, personally."  (Mark W Maier, "The Art Systems of Architecting" 3rd Ed., 2009)

"In essence, Continuous Integration is about reducing risk by providing faster feedback. First and foremost, it is designed to help identify and fix integration and regression issues faster, resulting in smoother, quicker delivery, and fewer bugs. By providing better visibility for both technical and non-technical team members on the state of the project, Continuous Integration can open and facilitate communication channels between team members and encourage collaborative problem solving and process improvement. And, by automating the deployment process, Continuous Integration helps you get your software into the hands of the testers and the end users faster, more reliably, and with less effort." (John F Smart, "Jenkins: The Definitive Guide", 2011)

"Systems with high risks must be tested more thoroughly than systems that do not generate big losses if they fail. The risk assessment must be done for the individual system parts, or even for single error possibilities. If there is a high risk for failures by a system or subsystem, there must be a greater testing effort than for less critical (sub)systems. International standards for production of safety-critical systems use this approach to require that different test techniques be applied for software of different integrity levels." (Andreas Spillner et al, "Software Testing Foundations: A Study Guide for the Certified Tester Exam" 4th Ed., 2014)

"Sometimes you can’t fit everything in. Remember that the sprint is great for testing risky solutions that might have a huge payoff. So you’ll have to reverse the way you would normally prioritize. If a small fix is so good and low-risk that you’re already planning to build it next week, then seeing it in a prototype won’t teach you much. Skip those easy wins in favor of big, bold bets." (Jake Knapp et al, "Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days", 2016)

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