The synergy between quality and risk

Quality management and risk management are usually a focus for the Vendor s Quality Assurance (QA) organisation. In low CMM (Capability Maturity Model) maturity organisations, quality management and risk management can be regarded by project managers and their teams as boring activities which are peripheral to the real work of running a project and developing software. They are often addressed as an afterthought, once the solution has been developed and the proposal has been written. This is a big mistake, as the key synergy between quality and risk management is that both are major determinants of the approach, software development methods and tools to be adopted for the project. The Risk Management Plan and the Quality Plan should both result in a set of project tasks and activities to be costed and incorporated into the work breakdown structure and plans for the project. These plans are not peripheral to the definition and delivery of a project. They are fundamental to its success.

In general terms, we try to maximise quality and minimise risk and there can be an inverse relationship between them. For example, poor quality software development processes imply the production of poor quality software, which results in schedule delays, increased cost, a dissatisfied Buyer and increased commercial risk for the Vendor. However, there is another side to this coin. Perfection in software in absolute terms, zero defects per thousand lines of code (KLOC) is very costly indeed and, if pursued on...