Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects
by Tom DeMarco, Timothy R. Lister
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Description
This is the digital version of the printed book (Copyright © 2003). If There’s No Risk On Your Next Project, Don’t Do It. Greater risk brings greater reward, especially in software development. A company that runs away from risk will soon find itself lagging behind its more adventurous competition. By ignoring the threat of negative outcomes–in the name of positive thinking or a can-do attitude–software managers drive their organizations into the ground. In Waltzing with Bears, Tom show more DeMarco and Timothy Lister–the best-selling authors of Peopleware–show readers how to identify and embrace worthwhile risks. Developers are then set free to push the limits. The authors present the benefits of risk management, including that it makes aggressive risk-taking possible, protects management from getting blindsided, provides minimum-cost downside protection, reveals invisible transfers of responsibility, isolates the failure of a subproject. Readers are armed with strategies for confronting the most common risks that software projects face: schedule flaws, requirements inflation, turnover, specification breakdown, and under-performance. Waltzing with Bears will help you mitigate the risks–before they turn into project-killing problems. Risks are out there–and they should be there–but there is a way to manage them. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
A really nice introduction to risk management and overview of a process to track it. I'm convinced to do risk management, and have an idea of what a process would look like. But, this book is lacking on the 'how'. I don't know how to maintain risk management after an initial risk census, or how to handle risk materialization. A quick read, but it feels lacking. DeMarco and Lister are good authors and the book is highly readable despite the math.
Excellent. Very well written (not to pretentious, not to simple), short, addresses the point perfectly. On the same level as Peopleware.
A concise book on how to manage software projects. Has a lot of commons sense and insightful ideas on how to avoid disaster. It doesn't take long to plow through this but it should be read slowly as it packs a LOT in.
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Author Information
18 Works 3,370 Members
Tom DeMarco draws on his experience both as participant and manager of large systems development projects, among them development of the first commercial stored-program telephone switching center at Bell Telephone Laboratories, and of distributed on-line banking systems in Europe. He is author of Structured Analysis and System Specification and of show more Concise Notes on Software Engineering, also published by Yourdon Press. show less
3 Works 1,978 Members
Awards and Honors
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Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Technology, Business, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 005.1068 — Computer science, information & general works Computer science, knowledge & systems Artificial Intelligence/Virtual Reality Software development modified standard subdivisions Organizations and management Management
- LCC
- QA76.76 .D47 .D4755 — Science Mathematics Mathematics Instruments and machines Calculating machines Electronic computers. Computer science Computer software
Statistics
- Members
- 291
- Popularity
- 110,104
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (4.00)
- Languages
- English, German, Russian
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 1
