Risk Management is not hard, do it

This is another area where Software Project Managers are not very good at: Risk Management. Why not? I found 2 main things and both are typical of the SW industry:

• There is no pressure on PMs and no expectation that they perform risk management. Most executives know about risk management but they don't realize that it's part of a PM's responsibilities.
• Too many PMs in the SW industry just don't have hard skills, so even if they understand the importance of risk management, they don't know how to do it. So they just don't.

Interesting anecdote: I occasionally teach SW Project Management at the local community college. One of my ex-students asked me to come to his workplace and make a presentation to the PMs in the company. In order to decide the topic, he ran a poll among the PMs, asking them for the topic they would most be interested in. Interestingly, Risk Management came in first with 22 votes (second place had a much lower rank - Stakeholder Management with 16 votes). So, this was clearly at the top of their mind. Not big statistics but I was not surprised. I have not yet given the presentation (scheduled for late January) but I will try to understand why they were so concerned about Risk Management.

Anyway, just as I noted in Cost Management is not Optional, I think that Risk Management shouldn't be optional either. It's important for the project and for the PM as a skill. And, it's really pretty easy. I don't want to "teach" Risk Management here. As I noted before, text books can do it much better than a blog. But I do want to give some tips here:

• It's not hard. Any basic book on project management gives the basics of Risk Management. Take a little time to learn it. It has a lot of overlap with Issue Management, which most PMs do regularly.
• Use mitigation to avoid contingency. A lot of PMs forget that it's much better to get rid of the risk before the risk event happens, rather than execute the contingency plan after the risk event has happened. Why be the smart guy (or gal) if you can be the wise one?
  
• Assign risk owners. You don't have to resolve all the risks all by yourself. You have a team. Let them help out. In fact, there will be risks which you are not the right person to own anyway.
• Track regularly. Risks are like issues. You need to track them regularly to make sure they are being taken care of.
• Find a risk log template . Templates make life so much easier. Don't waste time re-inventing the wheel. There are zillions of templates out there.

Once you start to do regular risk management on your projects, you will see that it's not hard and you'll enjoy the benefit of better project control and the appreciation of all of your stakeholders.

Let me know what you think.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Technorati Tags: Risk Management, Project Management, Project Manager, Software Engineering, Software Project Management
------------------------------------------------------

Story Time - Stakeholder Management

This really happened to me. Naturally, I hide identifying details.

Several years ago I got a contract position as Program Manager for a startup company. The company had just signed their first contract with a very large client. This was a do-or-die thing, so they figured it was time to bring someone in to make sure the project gets done properly.

The company had four executives:

• CEO, who was also the founder
• CTO who was also a co-founder
• VP1 who was the son of the chair of the board (smell trouble? No kidding)
  
• VP2

It took me two weeks to realize that I had landed right in the middle of a major war within the executive layer. The war was over the future strategy of the company. Actually, over the future of the company.

Camp 1: CEO and CTO: think the company is viable, has a great future and needs to continue with the current strategy.
Camp 2: Chair (daddy) and VP1 (son): think that the company is OK right now but will not succeed long term. Therefore, it should be sold ASAP to recover the investment.

I was the only manager in the company (other than the executives), so I had to somehow keep the boat afloat while the gods were fighting. I focused on the success of the project and did my best to stay out of the line of fire. But, as these things go, the line of fire chased me. I soon became their secret ally. One day one camp would sit down with me, tell me their secret war plans and urge me not to tell the other camp. The next day, the other camp would do the same. I listened politely but stubbornly avoided becoming a part of that in any way. From my perspective, each one of the executives could fire me in a blink of the eye if he thought I was siding with the other camp, so it was clear to me that the smartest thing was to stay out of that war as much as I could. So I continued to "stay the course" (ouch, not the smartest choice of words these days...) and concentrate on the project execution.

But things turned very problematic very quickly. It turns out that as the war intensified, the camps started with more personal and direct criticism and accusations. And so, an argument (one of many) broke-out: was our product ready for prime time or not? VP1 and VP2 claimed that the product was in a prototype state - not ready for prime time, which proved that CEO and CTO were incompetent. CEO and CTO claimed that the product was mature and ready for prime time, hence, they were doing a good job. Daddy-chair secretly sided with his son (VP1) but could not do so openly. So, the BOD was looking for somebody neutral but knowledgeable to "tell them the truth". And guess who they found. Right, me. My manager (VP1... Son) notified me that I was invited to the BOD's next meeting to "testify".

And then, to make matters worse, the CEO fired VP1 (my boss) ! So, I get a phone call from (ex) VP1 telling me that he had just been fired. He explained to me that he was sure he would be reinstated because his daddy would take care of that. Oh, and also, now, it was more important than ever that I deliver the right message to the BOD. Get it?

So what do I do? Here I was, just doing my job and suddenly, I decide the future of the world. And what's worse, the way I looked at it from my perspective, this was a lose-lose case. If I support camp 1, camp 2 will get rid of me. If I support camp 2, camp 1 will get rid of me. Damned if I do, damned if I don't. Either way, once I "testify", my employment with the company would be very short. This was still the dot com bust time and losing a job was even less fun than usual. I will admit that I had a few not easy days. I had a family to support and all that.

So, I thought and thought and strategised and strategised: which side should I support and yet survive?. I saw no way out. And then I had this eureka: to choose a side is the wrong consideration altogether! I must not choose sides in a political-power war. I must not think what's good for me, I must do what's right! I am first and foremost a professional and I must act professionally. And if I loose my job (I was sure of that) so be it. I just refuse to play along with this political power struggle.

So, the next day, I met with both camps (separately) and officially notified them that they should not expect me to support any camp and that what I would tell the BOD will be my true and honest professional judgment of the status of the project and the product. And after making that statement, I closed my eyes and waited for the ax to come down.

How big was my surprise. First I should say how big was their surprise. That, obviously was the one answer they had not expected. But when they heard it, they liked it! They apologized for dragging me into that war and said that all they wanted from me from now on was just to continue with my work and make sure that the project was successful. Which was what I wanted to do all along :)

I was so happy and proud that I had made the decision not to play the wrong game and promised myself that I would continue to conduct my job by this simple principle:

Be professional.

These are not empty words, It's important, it's the right way and sometimes it even works :).

So, happy ending to this story. Talk about stakeholder management...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Technorati Tags: stakeholder management, Project Management, Project Manager, Software Engineering, Software Project Management
------------------------------------------------------------------------