Reducing system software project risk through choice of project architecture
Name
42768168-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
8.65 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
d450ac635bdca59af3fe8640338129ed
Author(s)
Arwe, John E. (John Elliott), 1964-
Advisor(s)
Michael A. Cusumano.
Date Issued
1999
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
The choice of project architecture - the structure of and interrelationships between product, processes, and organization - alters the project's risk profile. While most analyses take project scope as an input, I propose the examination of multiple project decompositions take place as part of project planning and project monitoring. The subprojects created by each decomposition will have unique risk profiles, suggesting different process and organizational adaptations that lower overall project risk. By selecting project decompositions that partition risk and then adapting the structure of each sub-project to mitigate its particular risks, the probability of risk occurrence is reduced and the severity of consequences may be reduced. Case studies of four IBM mainframe system software projects illustrate lessons regarding project architecture, some general and some project- or process-specific. These projects employ both waterfall and iterative process models, managed using varying degrees of functional, lightweight, and heavyweight organizations.
Description
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 1999.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-86).
Subjects
System Design and Management Program
MIT Department
System Design and Management Program.
Terms of Use
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