Risk Management for Technology Projects

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Risk Management for Technology Projects
Geography 463 GIS Workshop
May 5 2005
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The Basics of Project Management for Technology
Projects Part 3 Presentation Outline

• The Software Engineering /Application Development
  Profession
• Risk Management Principles and Practices
• Case Study Risk Management in a GIS application

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Themes for tonights presentation

• There are Software Engineering skills, beyond the
  latest programming languages, that are timeless
  and valuable.
• Each step in the Software Development Lifecycle
  has its own risks and a number of ways to address
  them.

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Section OneSoftware Development Careers

• Ten Basic Knowledge Areas
• Construx Inc Capability Levels
• Activities that promote professional career
  development

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Ten basic Knowledge Areas for Software Developers
(SWEBOK.www.swebok.org)

• Requirements Gathering
• Software Design
• Construction
• Testing
• Maintenance

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Ten basic Knowledge Areas for Software Developers
(continued)

• Configuration Management
• Project Management
• Software Engineering Management
• Software Engineering Tools and Methods
• Software Quality

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A few words on Testing

• Definition dynamic verification of the behavior
  of a program
• Structural Testing to ensure test cases really
  test all lines of code
• Functional Testing Ensure that for each
  requirement, there is at least one test case

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Software Developer Capability Levels (at
Construx Inc)

• Apprentice Basic work in a knowledge area
• Practitioner Effective, independent worker
• Leader Can lead others in knowledge area
• Master Guru, teacher and enabler

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Job Skills Profiles

• Chart of Knowledge Areas and Capability Levels
• Defines Job Roles by looking at Profiles
• Career development plans are created by doing GAP
  analysis

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Professional CareerDevelopment Strategies
Direct Experience Readings Classes Certifications
Industry Participation
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Summary

• General Knowledge Areas will
• remain fairly constant
• many are not outsource-able
• Effective Professional Development Requires
• Book Knowledgewhy you do things
• Mentoring..to guide one along the way
• ExperienceHow you do things successfully and
  more efficiently effectively

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Section TwoRisk Management Principles and
Practices

• The Opposite of Risk Management is Reckless
  Management
• Steve Tockey, Principal Consultant, Construx
  Software

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Terminology

• Risk potential for realization of unwanted,
  adverse consequences to human life, health,
  property, or the environment (Society for Risk
  Analysis).
• Risk The possibility of suffering loss
• Risk Events The actualization of a hazard,
  threat, or accident.

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Terminology (continued)

• Impact The negative consequences of an event /
  accident / occurrence
• Likelihood The probability based on historical
  patterns / frequency that an event w/ a specific
  impact will occur
• Risk Signature An activity, program, or assets
  level of risk arrived at by combining likelihood
  and impact

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More Terminology

• Control Measures Actions taken, contingency
  plans developed or measures taken to reduce the
  level of risk
• Risk Appetite The level of risk the organization
  is willing to take

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Managing Risk

• Goal Establish a culture within an organization,
  or on a project team, that understand and
  continuously identifies, analyzes, manages and
  communicates risk at all levels of the
  organization, or all phases of a project.

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Managing Risk

• Inventory
• Assess and Prioritize
• Analyze
• Implement Control Measures
• Monitor, Audit, and Review
• Report

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Analysis Phase

• Define the universe and inventory its elements
• Assess risk by Category (Legal, Environmental,
  Safety, Public relations..)
• Review possible control measures
• Recommend Alternatives

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Possible Control Measures

• Accepting, Sharing, or Divesting of a risk
• Policies
• Procedures
• Training
• New or improved equipment (or tools)
• Change in processes

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Risk in Software Project

• Source Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering
  Institute.www.sei.cmu.edu
• Loss in a development project describes the
  impact to the project which could result in
• Diminished Product Quality
• Increased Costs
• Delayed Completion or Failure

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Risk and Opportunity

• Many software projects have goals to do things in
  new and different ways
• Few opportunities can be realized without risk
• Risk must be identified and constantly balanced
  against potential benefits
• Project Managers live for Risk Management

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Risk Management in Software Engineering Projects

• Assess continuously what can go wrong
• Determine what risks are important enough to deal
  with
• Implement strategies to deal with individual and
  systematic risks
• Communicate risks at all levels

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Risk Principles a framework for effective
control of risks

• Global Perspective / Big Picture
• Forward-looking View
• Open Communications
• Integrated Management
• Continuous Process
• Shared Product Vision
• Teamwork

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Summary Continuous Risk Management

• Identify search for locate risks first
• Analyze Transform risk into decision-making
  information. Evaluate impacts, liklihood.
  Classify and prioritize risks
• Plan Translate risk information into decisions
  and actions
• Track monitor risk indicators mitigation
  actions
• Control Correct based on metrics

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Using GIS to Manage Risk
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Section ThreeRisk Management Case Study

• Adapting Seattles GIS presence on the world wide
  web in the post Sept 11 world

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