The Question

Here are the results of a survey on where the risks are on a project. 67 people across the world participated and they were asked the following question:

The Results - Industries and Risk Categories

Out of the 67 responses, a random sample of 40 responses was analysed. Out of these, half of them indicated the industry they were in and the breakdown was as follows:

• 63% Information Technology
• 11% Telecommunications
• 11% Various
• 5% Business Services
• 5% Financial
• 5% Public Sector

All the risks were then analysed and could be placed in the following categories:

• 35% Organizational
• 18% Communications
• 14% Scope
• 14% Quality
• 12% Schedule
• 7% Budget

Organizational related risks appear to be the most frequently ranked at number one. This was followed by communications related risk in second place. Scope, quality and schedule related risks are ranked about the same in third place, with budget related risks in fourth place.

Comments

When we look at the top category, where 35% of all risks were organizational risks, here are the comments that people actually reported:

• Stakeholder availability and commitment
• Sponsor takes responsibility
• Lack of management commitment
• Getting adequate support from different departments
• Expectation of stakeholders is managed
• Organizational politics
• There will be competing priorities with other work or projects
• Business does not accept project recommendations
• Other high priority projects delays current project
• The wrong people are in the team
• Project manager does not have enough experience
• Lack of leadership
• Lack of team motivation
• Experts do not have enough experience
• Insufficient resources
• Poor quality client side project staff

One thing you can do when you start your project is to review these risks and prioritize them. Go though each one and ask the following 2 questions:

1. What is the possibility the risk will happen?
2. What will be the impact on the project if the risk happens?

Use a scale of ‘High (H)’, ‘Medium (M)’ or ‘Low (L)’ to answer these two questions. Whenever you get a MM, HM, MH or HH, you need to have a backup plan - either mitigate (minimise) the risks or put a contingency in place as your ‘Plan B’.

My book “Project Skills” has more information on risk assessment and several other topics you will find helpful when you plan and control your projects. You can get this at most on-line book stores.

Next Steps

If you found the results of this survey interesting, you may wish to subscribe to my free project management newsletter. I send this out every 6 weeks or so, and present a variety of topics with insights and tips to remind you of the things we all should be doing to manage our projects better. To subscribe, please visit www.itcentre.com or subscribe below.

Have you thought of running a highly interactive project management training course for your company? Just send me an email at sam@itcentre.com and we can discuss your needs. Let’s give your colleagues the right tools and techniques to reach project success and apply what they learn immediately after the course.

With regards