Embedded Software Risk Areas -- People

Series Intro: this is one of a series of posts summarizing the different red flag areas I've encountered in more than a decade of doing design reviews of industry embedded system software projects. You can read more about the study here. If one of these bullets applies to your project, you should consider whether that presents undue risk to project success (whether it does or not depends upon your specific project and goals). The results of this study inspired the chapters in my book.

Here are the People red flags:

• High turnover and developer overload

Developers have a high turnover rate. As a result, code quality and style varies. Lack of a robust paper trail makes it difficult to continue development. Often more important is that replacement developers may lack the domain experience necessary for understanding the details of system requirements.

• No training for managing outsource relationships

Engineers who are responsible for interacting with outsource partners do not have adequate time and skills to do so, especially for multi-cultural partnering. This can lead to significant ineffectiveness or even failure of such relationships.