Are You Appropriately Assessing the Risks of Your Software Project?
Posted on Thu, Oct 20, 2011 @ 04:58 AM
What do you think is the most difficult and critical task in project risk management? Hint: It is not analysis nor is it quantification. The answer: identification of risks.
When I conduct a risk identification meeting and ask the team members and stakeholders to start listing down risks, they usually come up with a very small list. Many times, they point to the issues rather than risks (see my recent blog for a discussion of the difference between risks and issues).
So how can you ensure all risks have been identified earlier in the project? I use the following tools and techniques to identify risks on my projects:
1. Consider all past, present and future/possible events.
a.Review past projects that were similar to the current projects. List all issues and risks that were encountered in those projects. All of them could be the risk candidates for your project.
b. Review similar projects that are being executed now. List all issues and risks from those projects as well. Discuss what could go wrong with your project and add those to this list. All of them could be risk candidates for your project.
c. Think creatively and guess what could go wrong in the future within or outside your project. List all those since all of them could be risk candidates for your project.
2. Use Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS) to identify more risks. For more details on RBS, please look at my previous blog post.
3. Brainstorming – call a meeting of all stakeholders and ask them to identify risks. I encourage everyone to come up with at least one negative and one positive risk. More are welcome (see my blog on negative and positive risks).
4. Expert Opinion – Consult experts on different areas related to the project such as technology, legal, user community etc. Some of these may match with the areas listed in RBS.
I have found that these tools and techniques can help you identify almost all the risks. What has been your experience? Feel free to share.