De-risk your IT project with lean project risk factor management!

1. Lean Project Risk Factor Management
Chul-Young Byun, Prof. Dr. Thomas Heupel
Deutsche Version: http://bit.ly/schlankes-prfm

2. 2
Motivation:
Is formal project risk management too expensive?
33%
67%
Survey Question to IT PMs:
"Did you apply formal project risk
management to your IT projects?"
No, mostly due to
cost justification
Yes
In 2009 a study of 102 IT project managers revealed that one third of those IT project
managers did not apply formal project risk management mostly due to cost justification! *
* Kutsch, Elmar and Hall, Mark (2009): “The rational choice of not applying project risk management in information technology projects” in Project Management Journal 40,
no. 3, p. 72–81

3. 3
Lean Project Risk Factor Management:
Spend 3 minutes per week on standard risk factors!
Risks
Future
Risk Factors
Nearer FuturePresent
Risk Factor
Indication
Present
PM

4. 4
Feedback Loop:
Assess risk factors and obtain mitigation priorities!
… Week n-1 Week n …
Present
PM
of
project xyz
Risk Factor
Indication
Perceptions
Risk Factor
Mitigation Priorities
Risk Factor
Previous
Mitigation
Priorities
Latest
Mitigation
Priorities
Lack of adequate project team 4 1
Lack of top mgmt commitment to the project 6 2
Changing requirements 5 5
Lack of effective project mgmt methodology 7 6
Lack of adequate user involvement 6 10
Misunderstanding the requirements 6 12
Failure to gain user commitment 12 13
Failure to manage user expectations 12 13

5. 5
Research studies and survey of 63 practitioners propose 8
standard IT project risk factors!
Risk Factor Risk Factor Description
Misunderstanding the requirements • not having a clear overall product vision
• not thoroughly defining the requirements of the new system or next features before starting
the implementation or next implementation iteration
• consequently not understanding the true work effort, skill sets and technology required to
complete the project and/or next iteration
Lack of top management commitment to the
project
• lack of oversight by executives and visibility of their commitment
• lack of supporting underlying project management methodology
• lack of committing required resources with adequate capacity
• lack of providing necessary organizational, physical and/or technical project environment or
infrastructure setup as needed
• lack of changing policies as needed
Lack of adequate user involvement • functional users do not actively participate in the project team and do not commit to their
deliverables and responsibilities
• functional user time is not dedicated to the goals of the project
Failure to gain user commitment • blaming the project leader rather than the involved users for "lack of client responsibility"
Failure to manage user expectations • expectations mismatched with deliverable
• expectations are not correctly identified and not constantly reinforced
Changing requirements • increasing amount of requirements changing quicker than the project can cope
Lack of effective project management
methodology
• inadequate project management methodology selected for the project
• misunderstanding the project management methodology and therefore applying it incorrectly
• lack of quality oriented engineering practices
• inadequate staffing of project roles
• inadequate project team size
Lack of adequate project team • right skilled people with wrong attitude
• lack of experience with problem to solve
• lack of team’s soft skills

6. 6
Positive observations with participating PMs
“The risk factor list is an aggregation of
many sub levels focusing on people,
process and tools. However any micro
level risk has to be aligned to one of these
8 factors.”
Comments from participated PMs
“The checklist tool is not only a great
tool for PMs, but also provides the level
of risk visibility that is relevant for
leadership and executive stakeholders.
I found it valuable to have a tool that
helps provide a concise view of risks
and mitigations through simplifying what
can be complex. Thank you for
allowing me to participate!”
“Although the checklist (8
factors) are very high level,
the granular risks can be
mapped to them and are
useful for analysis.”
Register here for the next wave: http://bit.ly/PRFM-Registration
Benefits:
1. With minimal effort you apply formal project risk management in an efficient manner!
2. You can broaden your project risk management knowledge and experience!
3. You obtain the study results showing your individual vs. the other PM’s project risk management behavior!
4. Bonus: When you have filled out 10 checklists you can select between an immediate $10 Amazon voucher
(or equivalent) and a $200 Amazon voucher (or equivalent) prize draw at study end!

7. 7
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
... the proposed mitigation priorities are helpful.
... the risk factor checklist tool can be used next
to traditional project risk management activities.
... the risk factors are relevant.
... the checklist can be filled out easily and quickly
enough.
I would use the risk factor checklist tool on other projects
because …
Yes No
Positive observations with participating PMs
Register here for the next wave: http://bit.ly/PRFM-Registration
Benefits:
1. With minimal effort you apply formal project risk management in an efficient manner!
2. You can broaden your project risk management knowledge and experience!
3. You obtain the study results showing your individual vs. the other PM’s project risk management behavior!
4. Bonus: When you have filled out 10 checklists you can select between an immediate $10 Amazon voucher
(or equivalent) and a $200 Amazon voucher (or equivalent) prize draw at study end!

8. 8
Positive observations with participating PMs
Register here for the next wave: http://bit.ly/PRFM-Registration
Benefits:
1. With minimal effort you apply formal project risk management in an efficient manner!
2. You can broaden your project risk management knowledge and experience!
3. You obtain the study results showing your individual vs. the other PM’s project risk management behavior!
4. Bonus: When you have filled out 10 checklists you can select between an immediate $10 Amazon voucher
(or equivalent) and a $200 Amazon voucher (or equivalent) prize draw at study end!
Risk Factor level without
using the tool
Risk Factor level going
down 4 times faster by
using the tool