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Indy Risk School
Subjective Versus Objective Risk Assessment
Given that there are at least 100 plus factors which can be included in a risk model, it is difficult to gather objective measures for many of these factors. In the subjective approach, the complexity of the software is determined as Simple, Average and Complex depending on the group discussion.
For many business project areas, there is little or no consistent measuring of the impact of the various risk factors. For example, what is the productivity difference of an expert Marketing specialist versus and inexperienced Marketing person in developing a new television marketing campaign?
In software development, there are a number of systemic studies (see Capers Jones [1992, 1996], Barry Boehm, 1981] that provide generic measures for a number of project risk factors. For example, the use of Function Points can provide an objective measure of software complexity where there is an agreement that Simple means < 100 AFP, Average means 100 - 1000 AFP and Complex is > 1000 AFP.
Unfortunately, many of the risk factors are not practically measurable. For example, the risks associated with developing software for four different client groups who are engaged in advanced political warfare are clearly much higher than those associated with a product for one supportive client. To quantify such factors and their impact is beyond the practical limit for most organizations.
A sensible approach is to quantify which factors are easily measured and use subjective group agreements for the remaining factors.