ASSESSING OVERALL PROJECT RISK

The following questions have derived from risk data obtained by surveying experienced
software project managers in different part of the world. The questions
are ordered by their relative importance to the success of a project.
1. Have top software and customer managers formally committed to support
the project?
2. Are end-users enthusiastically committed to the project and the
system/product to be built?
3. Are requirements fully understood by the software engineering team and
their customers?
4. Have customers been involved fully in the definition of requirements?
5. Do end-users have realistic expectations?
6. Is project scope stable?
7. Does the software engineering team have the right mix of skills?
8. Are project requirements stable?
9. Does the project team have experience with the technology to be
implemented?
10. Is the number of people on the project team adequate to do the job?
11. Do all customer/user constituencies agree on the importance of the project
and on the requirements for the system/product to be built?
If any one of these questions is answered negatively, mitigation, monitoring, and
management steps should be instituted without fail. The degree to which the project
is at risk is directly proportional to the number of negative responses to these
questions.