Visualizing Risk In Point Form

In VisualizingRisk a contributor wrote the following, originally from (and might still be in) ThreeWeekProjectTurnaround. I've summarised it to point form here - I think it's easier to follow. Thoughts and suggested changes welcome.

For a project:

Define the work

Take a break.


Prioritise the work


Assess the risk


Assign the work

Do the work

Developers will have the following priorities for the following three weeks:

  1. Complete their current SpikeTest, moving a high risk item to medium or low risk;
    • OR realize that they're in over their heads on it, and request help.
  2. Help others with their spike tests on request, or take over spike tests they could more readily complete.
  3. Complete discovery of factors that reduce medium risk to low.
  4. Research factors that would reduce medium risk to low.
  5. Complete the UnitTests for low risk code.
  6. Complete low risk code that passes the corresponding UnitTest.
  7. Check in and document low risk code which now is no-risk code.
    • Look for the highest priority remaining item available on which the developer feels competent to contribute.
    • If not all projects are adopted by volunteers, then starting with the highest risk projects, technical leads will use a random process to select among the most likely qualified developers.


An OldMaster? once said "never trust a visualization book that lacks pictures".


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