IT Project Risk Assessment and Control Or…..

Why bad things happen to good IT projects If everything is going exactly to plan, something somewhere is going massively wrong. uk.freeserve.co.uk/page1.htm

Objective for INFS 6510 Preventative – Risk Analysis, Monitoring, and Control for Information Technology Projects – Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) Corrective – Rescue the Problem Project - Williams – Catastrophe Disentanglement – Bennantan – What to do when things go wrong (Train Wrecks) – Berken – Case Studies

Deliverables for INFS 6510 Individual Assignments – Weekly assignments over readings, podcasts, and lecture material Individual Discussion Board Postings Individual Risk Analysis Project – Risk analysis for a case study

Why Study Risk and IT? “What’s worse than having a pricey project collapse? Knowing it could have been prevented” Risk management key element of project management. July 2008, PMI launched the Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP) SM credential. –

Why Study Risk and IT? Complexity Ambiguity/Intangible 90% Syndrome 44% Challenged (Late, Over Budget, And/Or Less than Promised Functionality) 24% Failed (Canceled or never used) software-going-downhill.php software-going-downhill.php

Project Management Review

Which is not a characteristic of a project? It is ongoing work It has a beginning and an end It has a specific goal It is unique It has a budget

Which is not a characteristic of a project? It is ongoing work It has a beginning and an end It has a specific goal It is unique It has a budget

What is a deliverable The work breakdown structure The products or services a project delivers The project objective with budget tied to it The risk of a project reframed as an opportunity The milestones a project has to hit

What is a deliverable The work breakdown structure The products or services a project delivers The project objective with budget tied to it The risk of a project reframed as an opportunity The milestones a project has to hit

What tool do you use to document work in manageable pieces you can track and manage? The task list The milestone calendar The summary task The work breakdown structure The critical path

What tool do you use to document work in manageable pieces you can track and manage? The task list The milestone calendar The summary task The work breakdown structure The critical path

What is a Project? “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.” PMBOK® – Temporary – Unique Product, Service, or Result – What is the difference between projects and operational work?

What are the Project Life Cycle Processes? 1.Wild enthusiasm 2.Disillusionment 3.Confusion 4.Panic 5.Search for the guilty 6.Punishment of the innocent 7.Promotion of the non-participants uk.freeserve.co.uk/page2.htm

Project Life Cycle Phases, according to PMBOK® Initiation Planning Executing Monitoring and Controlling Closing

Methodologies Product = Software / Technology Solution Waterfall vs Agile Waterfall – Plan and process oriented, linear Requirements -> Design -> Develop -> Test -> Deploy Agile – People oriented, collaborative, iterative Scope -> Requirements -> Risk -> Change -> Quality – Grady Booch AgileDimensions

Project Management Knowledge Areas PMBOK® 1.Project Integration Management 2.Project Scope Management  There is no such thing as scope creep, only scope gallop. 3.Project Time Management  "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.“ Douglas Adams 4.Project Cost Management 5.Project Quality Management  If an IT project works the first time, it is wrong. uk.freeserve.co.uk/page2.htm

Project Management Knowledge Areas PMBOK® 6.Project Human Resource Management  Managing IT people is like herding cats Project Communications Management 8.Project Risk Management 9.Project Procurement Management uk.freeserve.co.uk/page2.htm

Risk Management Areas Risk Management Planning Risk Identification Qualitative Risk Analysis Quantitative Risk Analysis Risk Response Planning Risk Monitoring and Control PMBOK©

Common Laws and Principles Associated with Project Management Murphy’s Law – If it can go wrong, it will Parkinson’s Law – Work expands to fill the time available for its completion 80/20 Principle – What 20% sources of risk are causing 80% of your project problems

Sources of Risks Practices / Processes (following a bad process or badly following a good process) – on_id=annotation_ on_id=annotation_ Technology – EB12A21CA EB12A21CA People –

References Information Technology Project Management, 4 th edition. Kathy Schwalbe – Murphy’s and Parkinson’s Law The 4-Hour Workweek, Timothy Ferriss – 80/20 Principle “Understanding the ‘90% Syndrome’ in Software Project Management : A Simulation- Based Case Study” the Journal of Systems and Software (8:4), 1988, pp