Project Management Risks

Project Management Risks are a serious threat to the success of all software projects.

Managing Project Risk is an essential part of the Project Manager's job.

Risk Management should be an integral part of the Project Management Plan. Project Risks are anything that can adversely affect the ability of the project team to deliver the project on time and/or on budget. These risks need to be identified and analyzed to gauge their probability and the seriousness of the occurrence.

These are the typical or widely recognized Project Risk Categories:

• Competition Risk
• Project Estimation Risk
• Requirements Risk
• Management Risk
• Project Resources Risk
• Environment Risk
• Software Risk
• Project Tool Risk
• Technology Risk

Competition Risk usually takes one of two forms.

There is a huge advantage to being the first to enter a new market or bring a new product to the market place.

So, Competition Risk is that a competitor's product will get to the market first.

Which naturally leads to the next Competition Risk is to catch up to the competition.

I either case, getting to the market as fast as possible is the only way to either gain or stop losing market share.

Project Risk Estimation occurs when the scope of the project is misinterpreted or misunderstood.

This is typically catastrophic for the organization or the project that is grossly underestimated .

An example would be if the development team does not have enough resources to compensate for the underestimation.

A practical way to mitigate this kind of risk is to out-source some of the development work, or to utilize COTS, Commercial Off-The-Shelf Software.

This could reduce the resources required on the development team.

Requirement Risks can be closely related to Project Estimation Risk, but we separate them here because they are different.

Meaning, you can have one without the other.

For example, the Project Estimation may align perfectly with the original Software Requirements.

However, dramatic changes to the Requirements late into the project may severely hamper the project schedule or delivery.

To address Requirement Risks the changes to the Software Requirements must be reviewed and accounted for in the Project Plan.

Do not allow these changes to go undocumented. It may seem easier, but the project will hit a critical mass and threaten the success of your project.

Manage the Requirement Changes, or they will swamp the project.

Management Risk usually consists of organizational and financial changes to the organization.

A good example would be if the organization restructured in an effort to reduce costs.

Financial realities may force the reduction of the project budget.

It may turn out that the new management team may feel the project is not a high priority like the previous management team.

Project Resource Risk is associated with the project team members.

Resource Risks can happen for many reasons:

• Key Resources are not Available
• Experienced Staff Leave During the Project
• Unable to Recruit Staff with Required Skill
• Required Technical Training is not Available

One way to reduce the impact of Project Resource Risk is to cross-train between team members -- particularly with key technical resources.

Environment Risk are associated with not having the required computers, servers, network, or any other physical hardware needed for the project to succeed.

It is imperative that contingency plans be prepared in the event that essential hardware is not in place for the project to meet it's schedule.

For example, there is little chance of a software project succeeding if there is no software test environment in time for the software release.

Software Risks involve the software and tools that are used to build and support the software development process.

The risk comes when these tools and software do not perform to a standard that enables the project to succeed.

A good example would be that the Change Management Tool, Defect Tracking Tool and the SCM Tools do not integrate.

So, it is difficult, or at best, it is a very manual process to track Changes and Defects to Source Code.

This reduces the ability of the Development Team to track their changes.

It is important to understand these limitations when planning the project to account for manual processes that could hamper the project.

Project Tools are the software products and processes used to manage the Software Project Management Risks.

Project Tool Risk is that these tools do not perform as anticipated.

They do not help facilitate the project, but in fact hamper the project.

To lesson Project Management Risks, the Project Management Team should continually analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of their tools and processes.

Then make adjustments and upgrades where needed.

The risk in Technology changes is that technology in which the system or software is built upon is superseded or obsolesced by new technology.

This could mean customers will reject or move to a competitor's software based on newer and better technology.

To mitigate Technology Risk, software companies need to understand the market place and their customer domains to anticipate this and to build their software and products accordingly.

Here is a listing of PM Tools that can help mitigate Project Management Risks.

Tools that can eliminate Project Management Risks

If you have Recommendations or Opinions of Project Management Tools, please share them.

Project Management Software Reviews

Understanding these Project Management Risks will you keep the Software Project moving forward successfully.

Define Project Management Define Project Management is a body of knowledge concerned with principles, techniques, and tools used in initiating, planning, executing, controlling and completing projects.

What is Project Management What is Project Management? It is the act of managing a project. Project Management can be considered an approach to manage work within the constraints of cost, quality and time. In addition, it is a body of knowledge concerned with principles, techniques, and tools used in initiating, planning, executing, controlling and completing projects.

Project Management Steps Project Management Steps and the processes that make up the five different phases of a Project: Initiation, Planning, Execution, Control, Closure.

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Project Management Plan Template Project Management Plan Template is a document that describes the services and roles and responsibilities between the Project Management Team and the rest of the Development Teams. The PM Planning Template is a common set activities and tasks that normally make up the Software Project Management Plan.

Project Management Risks Project Management Risks are a serious threat to the success of all software projects. Managing Project Risk is an essential part of the Project Manager's job.

Project Management Tools Project Management Tools are a collection of PM Tools. PM Tools help managers and project team members successfully plan, manage and execute the many and varied tasks involved in a project.

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Project Management Software Reviews Project Management Software Reviews is a place to read reviews of PM Software and create reviews of the PM Software you use in your job.

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Free Project Management Software Free Project Management Software are a collection of free PM Tools. Project Management Software help managers and project team members successfully plan, manage and execute the many and varied tasks involved in a project.

Free Project Management Template Free Project Management Template are a collection of free PM Tools. Project Management Software help managers and project team members successfully plan, manage and execute the many and varied tasks involved in a project.

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Software Project Management Software Project Management are the processes that make up the five different phases of a Project: Requirement Specification Gathering, Release Planning, Release Development, Testing, The Release of Software.

Software Configuration Management Software Configuration Management are the practices and procedures for administering source code, producing software development builds, controlling change, and managing software configurations.