Project Risk Management

Posted: September 9th, 2013

Project Risk Management

Name:

Course:

Date:

Project Risk Management

Part 1

1. The signoffs are important because they act as a binding agreement between the project developers and the clients, usually at the end of the project, in order to avoid the risks of changing the project or adding more resources due to unsatisfactory client specifications. Some project groups are resistant to signing off their projects during the various project stages. Most of the reasons for doing this are because the client or sponsor, at times, is unclear regarding their specifications and guidelines. Therefore, if a certain phase of a project is cleared, a client may resist to formally signoff the respective complete stage since it does not meet his or her expectations. In other instances, clients resist from signing off complete project stages in order to minimize on the resources that they will add for the development of another stage. In order for the project manager to avoid these risks, he or she is required to address the issue of resistance to signoffs by ensuring that there is efficient communication between him or her and the client. Another method involves setting up legally binding agreements between clients and project developers to ensure that both are restricted to fulfilling their commitments.

2. With the advancement in technology in the business environment, projects are incorporating new technology to enable customer satisfaction. However, some projects still incorporate the use of old technology. Projects adopting new technology have lesser risks compared to those using old technology. New technology enables for the fast acquisition of information related to the projects. For instance, firms working on IT related projects mostly use wiki systems such as the Enterprise Wiki 2.0, which enables for the collaboration of information and increase in knowledge sharing, in companies. Furthermore, by adopting new technology, project teams and developers are able to gain tons of information regarding their projects courtesy of faster Internet connections through enhanced devices such as fiber optics. Project managers also seeking to inquire the financial estimates for the costs of their projects, can do so with the use of developed and enhanced accounting systems developed solely for the purposes of accounting. For instance, small businesses are able to use MYOB AccountRight Premier to indicate the costs and balances of their projects.

3. Risk management refers to the mitigation of risks or unfortunate events that are likely to have an effect on the project at hand. IT projects rarely consider risk management practices. This is because assessing the risks accompanying the software used for the development of the project is cumbersome due to the complexity of soft wares. Organizations are increasingly adopting various software applications that are either acquired externally or developed internally. Because of this, one would expect that the effort to practice risk management to increase, but this is not the case. Complexity of the software refers to the different, complicated codes and programming languages used to develop the software from various developers, groups and other entities in different locations. Therefore, it would be tedious, and time consuming for a firm to carry out analysis of the possible risks that can arise from the use of software due to lack of knowledge on the different programming aspects constituting the project. Moreover, companies using traditional tools cannot perform risk management practices on the software due to the rigid nature of the source code, which cannot be used to decipher applications with mixed programming languages and codes.

4. Information Technology (IT) compared to all other works is different. It involves the developing, managing and utilization of information systems supported by computers and computerized devices as a field of knowledge. IT encompasses distinctive fields such as storage of data, retrieval of data, transmission of data, management and manipulation of data. In terms of risk management, IT is exigent. Because of the dynamic nature of applications and devices in information technology, management of risks has proved to be a tough exercise for organizations. Risks affecting the IT sector are dynamic due to the consistent change in technology, making it impossible to recognize the risks that are likely to affect an organization. For instance, the change in expert soft wares designed to assist project managers and teams in developing projects dents the assessment, analysis and creation of mitigation strategies for unknown risks. Furthermore, the dynamism has led to the change in malwares such as viruses that can harm computer systems. Despite the development of anti virus software, new viruses that resist the current software causing loss of data and disruption of computer systems, continue to be developed.

5. Usually, IT projects fail due to poor planning. Therefore, it is necessary for projects to delineate methods and plans before proceeding to selection of tools for the project. Planning in the IT project management involves developing schedules based on representations like Gantt charts to indicate the process of tool selection. Through planning, methods or procedures are deduced to enable for the outlining of the tool selection process. Creating methodologies and plans make it possible for the project teams and project manager to work cohesively in developing strategies aimed at assessing the right tools to be used in the respective project regarding customer specifications. Usually, IT projects do not adequately incorporate this process. Instead, IT projects first initiate the tool selection process and then implement the tool without clear objectives and directives before planning and assessing it. This is because the tools such as soft wares, used have similarity in their specifications. Because of this, the tools are assumed to achieve the objectives and are therefore, implemented.

Part 2

1. The train wreck in progress refers to the project bound to fail due to many discrepancies. In order to prevent the project from failing, it is important to hold a meeting between the client and management in order to the management to be serious. As a project manager, I would emphasize on the project goals and objectives to be achieved by the project team and explore on the conditions negatively affecting the team members by interviewing them personally and as a group.

2. As a project manager, I can protect the development team and the project from painful major changes by initiating adoption strategies such as simulation to present the future situation to be experienced presently to disrupt the status quo. By informing the clients of the major changes, which are likely to harm the project, I will be able to gain extra resources for the mitigation of the risks that will affect the project.

3. A project that is on a discourse is saved by assessing the goals and objectives again. This enables comparison as to whether the project is in line with the specifications and thus enables the project team and me to concentrate on the areas that negatively affect the whole project. The issues and risks affecting the project include unresolved initial planning, erroneous structural design direction, vague business plan, divided project team with individual goals and lack of involvement by the management despite the risks ascertained by the project. The impact of unresolved planning, is the lack of direction of the project, causing delay. A wrong project design leads to the wrong client specifications, an ambiguous business plan results into poor management and budgeting of resources, a divided project team leads to adhesion and straying from the set goals and objectives, and lack of involvement by management causes the project to stall due to lack of support regarding the project. Unresolved planning can be prevented ensuring proper planning before the commencement of the project. Wrong architectural design can be prevented by employing skilled designers and people familiar with the project at hand. A vague business plan can be prevented by analysis of potential assets and liabilities and the resources provided by the client. Cohesion between the team members can be enhanced by improving working conditions. Prioritization of the project can also stimulate the management to become involved in the project.

Risk                                                           Impact                                Prevention Approach

Unresolved planning             lack of direction of the project              proper planning

Wrong architectural design   wrong client specifications                   employing designers

Vague business plan              poor management of resources             financial analysis

Divided project team             straying from set goals and objectives  good working conditions

Lack of involvement             stalling of project                                   prioritization of the project

by management