Before any project stage begins gather in a room people representing all functions (IT, business, etc.) involved in the project.
Brainstorm: what could cause difficulties/failure in the project?
Having brainstormed, go through this checklist to see if it highlights anything the brainstorm missed.
When answering a question, if you don't know, answer 'no'. Any 'no' implies some risk. You must judge how much: a risk that would cause project failure and is likely to happen is a high risk!
This checklist is an aide memoire not a miracle cure for risk.
2. Identify risk reduction actions
In the meeting identify how risks can be eliminated, reduced or managed. Or, assign each risk to one person for action after the meeting. Project Support may have records of how previous projects have successfully addressed the risks you face.
3. Speak to the sponsor
Ensure the project sponsor understands and accepts remaining, significant risks. Significant means quite likely to happen and big impact if they happen.
4. Keep risks under review
Monitor risk status during the project, take action to keep risks at bay, report on risk status. You may want to assign the management of each risk to a member of the team.
5. Share experience
Get Project Support to update this checklist to add risks which you have identified but which aren't on this checklist. Tell Project Support how you managed risks successfully so that this experience can be made available to other project managers.
Note: before a multi stage project you may want to conduct two risk assessments: one for the whole project as far as you can foresee it, and one for the stage you are about to begin.
A. BUSINESS CASE.
An inadequate or unsupported business case may result in the project being cancelled.
1. Is there a written cost/benefit analysis for the project
Yes No
2. Is the business case quantified (£, $, Euros)
Yes No
3. Does the business case include all project costs (e.g. user time, training)
Yes No
4. Have Finance/Internal Audit validated the business case
Yes No
5. Has the Board approved the business case
Yes No
6. Has project funding been approved
Yes No
7. Is there a commitment to re-evaluate the business case before each project stage
Yes No
8. Does the project manager believe the project is justified
Yes No
B. BUSINESS BACKING
Lack of support may result in resource shortages, slow decision making and unjustified criticism.
1. Is there a project sponsor
Yes No
2. Does the sponsor have authority to resolve all project conflicts
Yes No
3. Is the sponsor accountable for the project's success or failure
Yes No
4. Is the sponsor accountable for delivery of the project's benefits
Yes No
5. Will the same person sponsor the project from start to finish
Yes No
6. Too senior a sponsor may result in a lack of interest - is the sponsor's
seniority appropriate for the project
Yes No
7. Will heads of functions involved in the project sit on a project steering committee
Yes No
8. Do all functions involved (business areas, IT, etc.) support the project
Yes No
9. Does the project manager believe the project has sufficient business backing
Yes No
10. If external parties are involved (e.g. consultants) does the business see these
external parties as worth their fees
Yes No
11. If the project is a joint venture (e.g. between 2 companies) is there a single sponsor
Yes No
12. Are clear project completion and success criteria agreed by the business
Yes No
13. Is there a one sentence project goal which everyone buys in to (write it below)
Yes No
C. COMPANY CULTURE
A company that does not understand projects can have problems when undertaking them.
1. Does the company understand that project authorities override
company organisation, seniorities and authorities.
Yes No
2. Does the company understand that a project hierarchy is a temporary structure
in which more senior employees may report to more junior employees
Yes No
3. Will people from different functions (marketing, customer service, IT, etc.)
be able to work together co-operatively as a team
Yes No
4. Is the company able genuinely to empower project team members to make
decisions on behalf of their part of the company
Yes No
D. PROJECT TYPE & ENVIRONMENT
Projects of a new or unfamiliar kind can cause unexpected and unfamiliar problems.
1. Is the project similar in size to any previous, successful project
Yes No
2. Is the project similar in nature to any previous, successful project
Yes No
3. Is company policy in the area addressed by the project likely to remain stable
throughout the project
Yes No
4. Has a project of this size been successfully completed in a similar timescale before
Yes No
5. Express the IT effort of the (sub)project in months. Find the square root.
Is the project's planned duration greater than the square root of the IT effort
Yes No
6. If the project is modifying an existing system/process/etc. is that system or process
well understood, of good quality and stable
Yes No
7. If the end date or budget is fixed, is the project manager empowered to
adjust the project scope
Yes No
8. Is the project not dependent upon anything beyond the project manager's control
Yes No
9. Have sub-contractors' management and quality processes been audited
Yes No
10. If the project is business critical, will extraordinary measures be taken to
ensure its success (full time resources, executives on call to project manager,
fast track approval for funds & people, etc.)
Yes No
E. MANUFACTURING PROCESS
If the project is unwieldy, or the project team do not understand what has to be done and when during the project, many problems and errors will result.
1. If the total project is large, will delivery be broken into a number of releases
Yes No
2. Will the scope of the release about to begin be determined during project definition
Yes No
3. Are all releases/sub-projects less than 10 months from the end of project definition
to cutover into live use
Yes No
4. Will business requirements be defined, in detail, before starting to design
solutions to those requirements
Yes No
5. Will business volumes be estimated as part of the requirement analysis step
Yes No
6. Does every member of the project team understand the 'manufacturing' process
to be used in the project
Yes No
7. Are there clear standards to which each project deliverable will conform
Yes No
8. Has the content of each project deliverable been determined
(e.g. what will be in the User Functions Design document)
Yes No
9. Have you agreed who will sign off and accept each project deliverable
Yes No
10. Is the project using processes, techniques and technologies that have been used
before within the company
Yes No
11. Is the project using processes, techniques and technologies that are in use elsewhere
Yes No
12. Do those who will use the project's outputs (the 'users') understand the perils
of change during a project
Yes No
13. Will the project manager be measured on the quality of what the project delivers
Yes No
14. If the project is installing a package, has the business agreed in principle to
re-engineer their business processes to match what the package does
Yes No
F. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
All involved in the project must understand their responsibilities, be empowered and be available.
1. Is there a project organisation chart
Yes No
2. Is each project role filled
Yes No
3. Are each person's responsibilities and accountabilities defined
Yes No
4. Has each person agreed to perform their role
Yes No
5. Is someone responsible for the Health and Safety of the project team
Yes No
6. Has the project manager managed a project of this nature before
Yes No
7. Is a project user manager in place who is empowered to resolve inter-user disputes
Yes No
8. Does one person have the responsibility of signing off and accepting projects outputs
e.g. user functions design on behalf of the users/customer
Yes No
9. Have the team leaders lead teams before
Yes No
10. Is the project manager full time on the project
Yes No
11. Are the team leaders full time on the project
Yes No
12. Will the project manager remain in place for the whole project
Yes No
13. In the project manager's opinion are roles properly defined and accepted, are
those people empowered to perform their roles, and will they really be available
Yes No
G. PROJECT TEAM
First, list all the skill groups you will need (e.g. business analysts, specific business knowledge, internal audit, architects, etc.), then copy this page so you have a page for each skill group.
SKILL GROUP:_________________________________
1. Will enough resource be available
Yes No
2. Are representatives (e.g. of business areas) empowered to make decisions on
behalf of those they represent
Yes No
3. Will the people be full time on the project
Yes No
4. Have the people got appropriate experience
Yes No
5. Have the people done similar project tasks before
Yes No
6. Are the people employees (as opposed to contractors)
Yes No
7. Do you know the names of the people who will be assigned to the project
Yes No
8. Will the project team get on with each other
Yes No
9. Will all team members stay until the end of the project, or at least until the project
no longer needs them
Yes No
10. In the opinion of the project manager do we have the right quantity and quality
of people assigned to the project in order to make it a success
Yes No
11. Have the project manager and key team members attended a course that
teaches how to manage projects
(such as the project management course
run by hraconsulting) as opposed to a course that teaches a methodology such as Prince 2
Yes No
H. ESTIMATING AND PLANNING
Unrealistic estimates and plans will obviously cause major difficulties.
1. Are estimates the result of detailed research, as opposed to finger-in-the-air
guesstimates
Yes No
2. Has the actual cost of previous projects been used when estimating this project
Yes No
3. Is contingency for risks included in the estimate
Yes No
4. Is a change budget included in the estimate
Yes No
5. Are holidays, education and sickness allowed for in estimates and plans
Yes No
6. Are quality checks included in estimates and plans
Yes No
7. Is time allowed for supervision of less experienced team members
Yes No
8. Has the quality of anything already delivered by the project been good
Yes No
9. Has each member of the project team signed their project plan to confirm
they can achieve it
Yes No
10. Is there a clear statement of how the quality of deliverables will be checked
and measured
Yes No
11. Has the plan been independently reviewed, e.g. by Project Support
Yes No
12. Is it understood that knowing how to plan a project is not the same as
knowing how to use a planning tool
Yes No
13. Is the project manager accountable for actuals matching estimates
Yes No
14. Has the project manager produced the estimate, as opposed to inheriting it
from someone else
Yes No
15. Is the project manager confident that the stage, or project, will end up costing
roughly the amount now being quoted as the estimate
Yes No
I. PLAN
If the plan does not contain all necessary activities and update authority is unclear the plan may fall into disuse.
1. Will the plan be revised as you go along
Yes No
2. Is it clear who can change what in the plan without higher approval
Yes No
3. Is every member of the project team aware of where they fit into the overall plan
Yes No
4. Does the plan include team meetings
Yes No
5. Will every project output undergo a quality check
Yes No
6. Does the plan include the production of technical and user documentation
Yes No
7. If the team is in more than one location are good communication mechanisms in place
Yes No
8. Does the plan include activities designed to 'sell' the project to its customers
Yes No
9. Does the plan include team lessons learned meetings at the end of each stage
Yes No
10. Will the plan be displayed publicly
Yes No
11. Does the plan include implementation activities
Yes No
J. MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION
If management and reporting mechanisms are not in place before the project starts, confusion can result.
1. Will the project team all be located together
Yes No
2. If there could be conflict between factions, are team building events planned
Yes No
3. Is it clear who will report what when and to whom
Yes No
4. Is there an agreed process for resolving issues
Yes No
5. Will business requirements remain firm and unlikely to change
Yes No
6. Is there an agreed change evaluation and approval process
Yes No
7. If there are several sub-projects, are there processes for managing cross sub-project
issues and changes
Yes No
8. If external suppliers are involved, have they agreed to report their status, progress
and outlook regularly
Yes No
9. Will project progress be reported to the eventual end user
Yes No
10. Will objective, numerical data be included in status reports
Yes No
11. Will outlook-to-completion be revised each time project status is reported
Yes No
12. Will the status of significant risks be reported upon
Yes No
13. Will team leaders ensure work claimed as complete by their team really is complete
Yes No
14. Will the project manager receive detailed plan vs actual data from team leaders
each week, including quality management data
Yes No
15. Will the project manager be located close to or amongst the project team
Yes No
K. IMPLEMENTATION
There is not much point delivering project outputs if people are not ready to use them!
1. Are implementation activities included in the project plan
Yes No
2. Do the users know when implementation will be
Yes No
3. Are the users ready, willing and able to change working practices
Yes No
4. Are plans in place to change working procedures
Yes No
5. Is user training included in the project plan
Yes No
6. Does someone have responsibility for managing the realisation of project benefits
Yes No
7. Are plans in place to establish a help desk
Yes No
8. Is someone responsible for calling a post implementation review of the business case
Yes No
L. RISK PERCEPTION
If others do not share your assessment of the risks you might not get support in reducing them.
1. Is the project manager's view of the risks shared by senior management
Yes No
2. In the project manager's opinion, what is the one thing most likely to cause
project failure? Does the sponsor share this opinion
Yes No
M. OTHER RISKS
You might wish to list here any risks which you have identified which are not on the checklist. No checklist will ever contain all the risks any given project will face.
N. ADDITIONAL RISK
1. At the end of several sections has been a question 'in the opinion of the project
manager...'. Is there clearly one person, the project manager, who has been
answering those questions
Yes No
2. If no, the project has a major risk: no real project manager. Please tell the project
sponsor. If there is no clear project sponsor either, take a long vacation.