CS200W Blog

Handing off a project to a client; what are the risks and challenges?

• By diesal9
• November 17, 2014
• 1 Comment

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a project fortune teller that could predict the future of how our project will go? Unfortunately, that is not possible in today’s world. Large projects will most definitely run into bumps along the road to completion. Even small projects are not immune to this phenomenon. Balancing the risks and challenges of a project can be a daunting task. We will discuss risk management and three challenges a project can face along its road to completion.

Risk management is one of the most important aspect of handing a project off. The way risks are handled can destroy and entire project. What makes risk management so difficult is that they cannot be generalized. Most risks are empirical, coming from work done in the past. Even if there are known risks that might not be all of them. To manage risks properly you almost have to predict the future, which is not possible, yet. According to Michelle Symonds (2013) “until a risk actually occurs, we cannot say with any certainty that it will happen”.

Because risks are an uncertain certainty, there are frameworks set up to handle them. The steps vary from framework to framework, but they mostly consist of three phases. The evaluation phase, the resolution phase and the verification phase. In the evaluation phase, risks are identified and analyzed. Based on the results from the analysis the risk is either kept or transferred to another group. If the risk is accepted, it goes into the resolution phase. This is where the plan to resolve the risk is created and executed. The last phase is where the risk plan is verified. If the risk no longer exists, it is closed. On the other hand, if the risk is still open it goes back to the previous phase for more investigation.

The first challenge to handing a project off is unrealistic or impossible deadlines. Every project has some sort of schedule to follow. Depending on many factors, the project deadlines can be so tight that the team is set up for failure. It could be due to lack of people, money and/or time. In most cases, projects use schedule slippage as a feature, but in this case it will be fatal. According to the University Alliance (2014), “the odds of successfully completing a project under unreasonable deadlines are not very good”.

In addition, scope changes or scope creep is another challenge to handing a project off. Scope creep has been known as the number one evil nemesis to delivering a project to the client. “This phenomenon occurs when project management allows the project’s scope to extend beyond its original objectives” (University Alliance, 2014). In other words, more work has been approved to be completed in addition to the work already agreed upon. Unless the team members have free cycles, scope creep creates a situation where the team must do more with less.

The last challenge to handing of a project is having team members with insufficient skills. In agile, the team is assembled with the idea that the group as a whole has the knowledge to do the work. This is not always the case. For example, because of someone’s pride or fear of losing their job, it may not be clear that they do not possess the skills to complete their tasks. It could also be because management will hope they will figure it out. Either way, finding out the team has insufficient skills must be uncovered as soon as possible, so they can get the proper training or be replaced.

In conclusion, the risks and challenges that a project faces can bring it to its knees. An effective risk management policy needs to be in place to ensure unknown factors are handled appropriately. Also overcoming unrealistic deadlines, scope creep and lack of skilled people will allow that project to be handed off to the client. Customers want it all, and it is our job to give them what they want, actually deserve. Wouldn’t you want the same?

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References

Ford, P. W. (2004, March 23). ProjectManagementCourse.com. Retrieved from Top 10 Project Management Challenges: http://projectmanagementcourse.com/project-challenges.html

Symonds, M. (2013, August 6). Project Management. Retrieved from The problem with project risk management: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/it-consultant/the-problem-with-project-risk-management/

Team Clarizen. (2013, June 13). “How to” Articles to Help You Manage Your Projects. Retrieved from Risk Management – Lifecycle: https://success.clarizen.com/attachments/token/mdvhohrtgwem3kj/?name=Risk+Flow+Diagram.png

University Alliance. (2014, July 11). Project Management. Retrieved from Top 10 Project Management Challenges: http://www.villanovau.com/resources/project-management/top-10-challenges/#.VGl8q7HTmUl