Tiwana and Keil present a risk assessment tool for information and communications technology (ICT) projects that they developed after finding that conventional tools took too much time, were highly complex, and often produced misleading results. In order to avoid such pitfalls, they developed a quick and practical (they call it “pragmatic”) tool.
After conducting a large survey of senior ICT project managers, the authors identified six key risk factors for information technology (IT) projects, and divided them into knowledge-related and organizational factors. Among knowledge-related factors, they place the similarity of the current project to previous ones, customer involvement in the project, and the stability of requirements. Among organizational factors, they place the use of formal project management methods, the fit between methodology and project type, and the project complexity itself.
The tool devised by the authors consists first of dividing a Cartesian space into four quadrants, whose axes describe the type of risk factor (organizational or knowledge-related) and the manager’s sphere of influence (within, if the project manager can control the risk factors, or outside, if he or she cannot). Then, each of the risk factors can be placed in the region of the plane that more accurately describes its nature. Different people in an organization can then be asked to place the risk factors in the grid; at the end of this process, the project manager can have an idea of the relative perception of these factors in the whole organization.
This tool is straightforward, quick, and easy to use; however, being qualitative only, it is not suited for a rigorous analysis. The authors suggest using it as a first step, to “get the bearings,” before embarking on a large project. It could also be useful as an introductory tool in risk assessment courses, just to get the flavor of what risk assessment is about. And who knows? It could even be fun using in some everyday activities (for example, vacation planning or car substitution).
