Software is analogous to oxygen for two reasons; it is ubiquitous and it is necessary for survival. With number of computers growing at a rate faster than human, it is imperative to take special care of the forces which drive our computers. The softwares. As we all know that risks are inherent in every software development project, also there are many studies conducted on risk types and their causes. With the advent of techniques like Lean and Agile, the topic ofandnbsp; culture in an organization effecting software development has recently gained importance. I conducted a study on andldquo;cultural barriers to effective software risk managementandrdquo;, which involved
- Surveying 52 employees on software development organization culture;
- Interviews with four IT heads who talked about culture in their organization and how it contributes to software project development;
- Case studies of three best organizations, mainly IBM, Microsoft and Infosys and
- My personal experience of 4 years in software development and literature review on similar area.

Based on the findings of the study, this article illustrates ten cultural factors which play a major role in managing risks during software development.

1. Management Judgment about Project Outcome: The project stakeholders have a tendency to make a judgment long before in relation to the relative success or failure of projects. Inspection of various project failures simply shows that many project managers plan for failure rather than success. According to McManus and Wood-Harper (2008) if we consider the inherent complexity of risk associated with software project delivery, it is not too unpredictable that only a small number of projects are delivered as per the original time, cost, and quality requirements. Therefore this issue calls for seeking clarity of goals in the mind of management, then the correct procedure of transferring it to the team. This consequently brings more clarity of project development process in the minds of management, and the developers.

2. Lack of Clear Vision and Management Support andndash; Poor Work Ethics: Second difficulty many organizations encounter is; lack of a clear vision on how success will look like when the software application is deployed. The Standish group (1995) also confirms this as a major contributor because of the varied negative influences andldquo;lack of executive supportandrdquo; may have on the overall project outcome. Not every organization thrives in encouraging a concept like andldquo;shared visionandrdquo; andndash; clarity of vision in the minds of all the project members and possessing a shared and known terminology. Knowledge sharing atmosphere/environment implies; good infrastructure, the team membersandrsquo; comfort while asking doubts and giving suggestions to the project manager, so that its absence does not give rise to mistakes in the later stages which may eat up the project time.

3. Lack of Line Support: Ignoring line staff while deciding on project accountability might have adverse effects on the project outcome, as they may not put their heart into the development task they are performing, unless they are held accountable for it. The best way to find a prospective line campaigner for software implementation is to spot the best of all the line people who are expected to gain most from the successful completion of the system. Frequently, this is the manager or the executive whose department or division can visualize or see the extent of benefits it can reap from the implementation of the system. This will help the team to work on it with complete dedication and passion.

4. Insufficient User Involvement and Commitment: The Standish group (1995) lists this factor separately as andldquo;lack of user involvementandrdquo; in the project development because of which many times, the team is not able to compete with the changes in the project. Disappointing or inadequate user participation and commitment hampers the project teamandrsquo;s ability to frame the requirements that are complete, reliable, and capable of successfully meeting the needs of the system as expected by users. Whereas, adopting methods like Agile enables accepting changes as and when they arise.

5. Poor Productivity Due to Lack of andldquo;Sense of Urgencyandrdquo;: My personal experience of web development has witnessed this risk factor quite often. Also Parkinson's Law identified in Agile states that: andldquo;Work expands to fill the time availableandrdquo; and Student Syndrome: andldquo;Given a deadline, people tend to wait until the deadline is nearly close before starting workandrdquo;. Short iterations, choosing right personnel, training for development (if necessary), can prove to be of great help in retaining the sense of urgency.

6. Poor Communication andndash; Formal or Informal: Failed projects signify that the project managers in those projects were often unconscious of dormant volcano which was going to erupt anytime. Unfortunately, the finding was; mostly there were some people in the organization who were aware of this eruption, yet did not inform the project manager of its existence. According to Standish group (2009) study, over 90% of project issues could be tracked down from communication problems. A shared global-view, which involves a shared understanding of tools, terminology, culture, practices and principles, ensures effective communication within a team. A shared understanding can be implemented by project managerandrsquo;s thorough analysis of communication constraints at various milestones.

7. Human andndash; Just Hired or Nurtured: Project team members may have the necessary skills to employ a risk management process; however, this does not promise that the team will use it during the project lifecycle. For instance, software developers naturally tend to withhold technical information given that information is a source of power. Nevertheless, rewarding and holding them accountable for sharing knowledge can help overcome this tendency. Employees sometimes need an incentive to andldquo;push the edge of the envelopeandrdquo; in working for heavy projects. Simple incentives like bonus, free movie tickets, lunch or dinner gift cards, or simple recognition can go a long way to encourage employees to work creatively under pressure, and then to share this creative learning with the mechanism they have established to communicate and leverage various outcomes.

8. Loose Monitoring and Controlling Procedures - Ignorant Attitude: Ignoring continuous monitoring deprives a team of identifying any deviations, suggesting corrections, forecasting future performance and absorbing the lessons learned into the work of the organization. If monitoring and control procedures are not in place to determine how project performance will be assessed, prioritized and corrected, this further affects the quality control, Human Resources (HR), risk, time, cost and project management elements. Ever since projects have increased in scale and magnitude, the monitoring methods have become insufficient. Not revising the procedures to encompass the new demands and not having periodic reviews to gauge the performance of the projects can increase the chances of failure.

9. Reactive Approach - Leads to Cost and Schedule Overrun: This issue implies reacting towards a risk only when it is visible. For instance, testing only at the end, emphasizing on the amount of coding rather than quality, tracking the development against requirements only towards the end, similar factors further expand the project time. In my personal experience while working on an economic portal for Saudi government, I could strongly observe this issue. Over time the project faces critical shortage of resources. This becomes a never ending chain reaction of risks being encountered one after another. Therefore, risk discussion should be in the meetingsandrsquo; agenda by default.

10. Lack of Willingness to do Lessons Learned: It implies, not doing a andldquo;lessons learnedandrdquo; of what worked and what did not work. Doing this might have led to gaining additional knowledge on how to perform better in the next project. In almost every organizationandrsquo;s project management process, the last phase of system development should ideally include some type of lessons learned.

Periodic monitoring and reporting on the status of the project helps in recognizing the signs of the overall project health and red-signals, for the project may go off its planned course. Therefore risk management involves not merely preventing or controlling risks, but it is a way of widening the area of knowledge of oneandrsquo;s expertise in the task one is doing. Therefore, a good culture signifies not only a successful project outcome, but also indicates the credibility of the team, hence the organization.

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