A Measure of Software Development Risk

Abstract

Risks to software development are present throughout the creation of information systems (IS). The ability of researchers and practitioners to consider risk within their models and project management methods has been hampered by the lack of a rigorously tested instrument to measure risk properties. An instrument to measure software development risk based on properties described in the literature is proposed. A survey of 152 IS project participants was collected to examine the reliability and validity of the instrument, both which appear strong. The instrument then was used to empirically demonstrate a strong anticipated relationship between risk and project success.