Do We Rework? A Path to Manage One of the Primary Cause of Uncertainty in Software Industry

Abstract

With the advent of the information age and more intense competitions among IT companies, the differentiation factors must be found in the capability of the organization to fit its purpose and consequently to continuously manage uncertainty. Rework is the most important cause of uncertainty in the IT industry and consequently it is one of the major factors that negatively affect the organizations capability to fit customer expectations. For this reason, rework must be dealt with rigorously and in a structured way by any organization that wants to survive and win the competition. The approach to be used should necessarily use quantitative management and assessing the quality of software development processes and products not only by measuring outcomes, but also predicting outcomes and making a trade-off between benefits and costs. On the basis of our very long experience in leading and implementing improvement initiatives on this matter in less mature or very mature organizations in Europe and Latin America, we summarize in this article the pragmatic and staged path to be implemented to be successful in controlling and reducing rework.