A Checklist for Assessing Some Important Areas of Project Risk

A checklist for assessing some important areas of project risk ...


1. Project Size and Scope of Effort Risk

What is the project's estimated duration?
What is the project's effort, in staff hours?
What is the estimated cost?
How much will the project schedule depend on availability of end-user staff for analysis and testing?
Will stringent quality requirement for the proposed system add to duration and cost for inspections, documentation and testing?
Is the end date fixed or flexible?

2. Business and Requirements-Related Risk

Will business success depend on the project?
What is the cost of ownership?
Do the users and management accept and appreciate the value of the new system?
How many departments or organizational entities are involved?
How complex are the deliverables?
How much will the project change processes?
How much will user procedures change?
How will politics affect the project team and project outcome?
How diverse is the user population?
How clear are the requirements?
What are the dependencies on other systems and processes?
How will implementation impact mission-critical operations?

3. Resource and Skill Risk

How many tasks are outside of  the project team's control?
Will the project require major hardware or software upgrades?
How many  departments must provide  resources to the project?
What is the availability of  technical staff throughout the project?
Which software languages, databases, tools, etc. are new to the technical team?
What  hardware is new to the technical team?
How complex and intricate is the logic that needs to be created?
How experienced in the product or business are the project team resources?