Propagation of Risk across the Phases of Software Development

Software development is a process of well planned and defined steps that contains many series of systematic tasks to deliver the expected product or service to the client. While doing the same, it is likely that there can be many ups and downs in the tasks that are defined starting from the planning stage to completion of deliverable. Also, the series of planned tasks related to product/service delivery in the software development process is likely to fluctuate in terms of Cost, Time, People and Process due to various external factors. These fluctuations should be taken care at the right time with the right mitigation strategy as it spans up further ending with serious obstructions. This paper focuses on how the risk propagates further through the phases of software development with the increase in level of severity. A sample of empirical data taken from existing software development projects throws more light on propagation of severity from the lowest to the highest. This knowledge further aids software personnel and all potential stakeholders to accordingly formulate strategies to effectively manage risk.