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PROJECT RISKS

IMPORTANCE OF COOPERATION BETWEEN PMs AND TEAM LEADs

AUGUST 5, 2015

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Project Risks

Project risk is defined by PMI as an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on a project’s objectives'.

Good Project Risk Management depends on supporting organizational factors, clear roles and responsibilities, and technical analysis skills.

* Uncertain means that there is a probability between 1-99% that the event could occur.

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Risks vs Opportunities

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Risk Management Process (Maria’s point of view)

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Risk Management Process

Project Risk Management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities.

Project risk management in its entirety, includes the following:• Planning risk management• Risk identification• Performing qualitative risk analysis• Performing quantitative risk analysis• Planning risk responses• Monitoring and controlling risks

Probability

Low Medium High

Impact

CriticalSubstantial

management required

Must monitor and manage

risks

Extensive management

crucial

ModerateMay accept

risks but monitor them

Management effort useful

Management effort

required

Minor Accept risksAccept risks but monitor

themMonitor and manage risks

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Project Risks Samples

Client related1

Team related2

Others3

• Scope Creep (also called requirement creep, function creep and feature creep) in project management refers to uncontrolled changes or continuous growth in a project’s scope. This can occur when the scope of a project is not properly defined, documented, or controlled. It is generally considered harmful.

• Client Delays, e .g. is the time that the client delays before doing something.

• Shared Resources: resources assigned are not dedicated and have operational responsibilities during some period of time.• Distributed team, a team of people using technology to work on the same stuff from different places.

• E.g. collaboration with 3rd part teams (Platform team).• …

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Risk Treatment

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• Involve & collaborate with customers as early as possible.

• Have a clear project vision and understand customers objectives.

• Know client’s expectations.

• Document all agreements: docs, emails, meeting minutes. And keep it in one place!

• Ongoing communication is critical.

• Document all communications.

• Agree on timelines and milestones.

Client Related Risks and the way they can be mitigated

Scope Creep

Client Delays

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• Constant communication is critical (standups, calls and etc).

• Scope, decisions and changes should be documented and shared (control the source).

• Everything (task, issue, action) should has an OWNER.

• Make sure everyone knows the goal.

• Define calendar.

• Agree on the resource requirements with resource managers.

• Identify contingency plan for resources.

• Define milestones. Scope should be mapped to the milestones.

• Manage key metrics.

Team Related Risks and the way they can be mitigated

Shared Resources

Distributed team

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Risk Categories

Scope1

Estimates2

Schedule3

Resources4

Communication0

*BA Lead point of view

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Examples of Risks

*BA Lead point of view

• QA Effort is underestimated• Assumptions are no longer valid• Schedule is not adjusted with critical path• No alignments in plans

• Project started but not fully staffed • Wrong people assigned to the project • Demotivation• Conflict with other projects (shared resources)• Customer don’t have resources for the project

• Customer doesn’t respond in time• Customer doesn’t speak English well• SMEs are not available• No regular status meetings• No standard project reporting• Different time zones

• No Scope Freeze• Scope Owner is not defined• Uncertain requirements • No process for Scope Changes • Lack of requirements traceability

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TRANSPARENT PROCESSES

COMMUNICATION PLAN ACTION ITEMS ESCALATION CHAIN SCOPE

MANAGEMENTTEAM

MANAGEMENT

*BA Lead point of view

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Risk Management

IDENTIFY

EVALUATE

PRIORITIZE

PLAN ACTION

IMPLEMENT

MEASURE, CONTROL & MONITOR

Risk Management should be ONGOING

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PM’S AND TEAM LEADSCOLLABORATION.EFFECTIVE 2-WAY

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Roles and Responsabilities

PROJECT MANAGERFocus on the PROJECT

Schedule, Budget, Resources, Client, Escalations, Risks, Alignment

BA LEADFocus on PRODUCT

Specifications & Requirements

DEV LEADFocus on ARCHITECTURE

and DELIVERYTech Specifications,

Development

QA LEADFocus on QUALITY

Test Plan, Test Cases, Execution

ENGINEER LEADFocus on

INFRASTRUCTURE and SUPPORT

Configuration and Support

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HOW TO RUIN YOUR PROJECT?

BE PRIDE

PANIC

RAISE RED FLAGS

KEEP ONESELF TO ONESELF

BE FORMAL

FOCUS ON THE NEGATIVE

BE AN EGOIST

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1

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TYPES OF THE CONFLICTS

ONE TO ONE

• PM vs Lead

• Lead vs Lead

• Architect vs BA

SUPER STAR• Architect vs Everyone

• “I KNOW EVERYTHING”

MANY TO MANY• BA vs DEV vs QA

• Stream vs Stream

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WHY COOPERATION IS IMPORTANT?

DELIVER ON TIME WITH QUALITY

WIN-WINEVERYBODY LOSE IF PROJECT FAILS

DON’T NEED TO ASK FOR IT – TEAM IS WORKING ON IT ALREADY

YACHT IN THE STORM

REMEMBER THE GOAL

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HOW TO ESTABLISH THE CONTACT?

Agree about the rules in advance1

Don’t try to change – try to understand

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Listen and hear3

Respect4

Give-and-take5

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DON’T OVERKILL

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

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DELEGATE

DIVE INTO DETAILS WHEN NECESSARY

TRUST BUT CHECK

MICROMANAGEMENT

YOUR LEADS ARE EXPERTS IN THEIR AREAS

BUILD TRANSPARENT PROCESSES

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HELP EACH OTHER

Don’t be silent1

Ask for help if needed2

Be a human3

Don’t wait - help4

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FEEDBACK

BE OPEN

NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

BE CONSTRUCTIVE

KNOW YOUR TEAM MOOD

MOTIVATE

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BENEFITS

Proactive teamV

Safe your timeV

Work with importantV

Team supportV

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COMMUNICATION

CLEAR RESPONSIBILITIESFEEDBACK

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AND ANSWERSQUESTIONSREAL CASES

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• …

• …

• …

CONSTANT CHANGES

WHAT IS WRONG? HOW IT CAN BE SOLVED?

• …

• …

• …

• Legacy system to be decommissioned but still up-an-running

• One system to be replaced with many from different vendors

• Customer doesn’t have limited budget or schedule

• Fuzzy scope

SITUATION

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• …

• …

• …

SCOPE AND SCHEDULE

WHAT IS WRONG? HOW IT CAN BE SOLVED?

• …

• …

• …

• Previous delivery with another vendor failed

• Wrong people at wrong places

• Internal process slows down the delivery and re-cap

• Duplicated scope

SITUATION

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• …

• …

• …

ESCALATION DOESN’T WORK

WHAT IS WRONG? HOW IT CAN BE SOLVED?

• …

• …

• …

• New market

• Customer is access point to the whole Group

• Wrong people at wrong places

• Limited schedule

SITUATION

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• …

• …

• …

NO COMMUNICATION WITH PM

WHAT IS WRONG? HOW IT CAN BE SOLVED?

• …

• …

• …

• Junior PM

• South Africa

• Joined venture

• Open scope

SITUATION

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