What Are Your Chances of Project Success? [From the Archives - First Published on 12 December 2012]

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This article was first published on 12 December 2012.

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The Standish Group provides research reports valued by those in technology management. In their
Chaos Report and the follow-up Compass Report, Standish reported the top 10 criteria for project success.

This unique self-assessment is based on Scott M. Graffius' professional experience and Standish's findings. You're invited to take it to identify your project's success potential.

User Involvement

  • Right users involved?
  • Right users involved early and often?
  • Quality relationships with the users?
  • Is involvement easy?
  • Users’ needs uncovered?

___ total items with a “Yes” x 3.8 = ___.

Executive Management Support

  • Right key executive involved?
  • Key executive have a stake in the outcome?
  • Project team have a stake as well?
  • Well-defined project plan?
  • Failure understood as a possibility?

___ total items with a “Yes” x 3.2 = ___.

Clear Statement of Requirements

  • Concise vision?
  • Business case?
  • Functional analysis?
  • Risk assessment?
  • Metrics?

___ total items with a “Yes” x 3.0 = ___.

Proper Planning

  • Problem statement?
  • Solution statement?
  • Right team members identified?
  • Firm specification?
  • Attainable milestones?

___ total items with a “Yes” x 2.2 = ___.

Realistic Expectations

  • Specifications clear?
  • Prioritization of needs?
  • Small/manageable milestones?
  • Change manageable?
  • Project be prototyped?

___ total items with a “Yes” x 2.0 = ___.

Small Milestones

  • 80/20 rule observed (focus on the 20% of features that result in 80% of the benefit)?
  • Top-down design used?
  • Time limits set?
  • Prototype tool used?
  • Progress be measured?

___ total items with a “Yes” x 1.8 = ___.

Competent Staff

  • Needed skills have been identified?
  • Right people on the team?
  • A training program?
  • Appropriate incentives?
  • Staff see it through?

___ total items with a “Yes” x 1.6 = ___.

Project Ownership

  • Roles defined?
  • A defined organization?
  • Everyone knows their role?
  • Incentives tied to success?
  • Everyone committed?

___ total items with a “Yes” x 1.2 = ___.

Clear Vision and Objectives

  • Vision shared?
  • Vision aligned with the organization’s goals?
  • Objectives achievable?
  • Objectives measurable?
  • Sanity checks in place?

___ total items with a “Yes” x 0.6 = ___.

Focused Staff

  • Incentives?
  • Focus on quantifiable deliverables?
  • Each team member have part ownership?
  • Everyone work together?
  • Confidence being built?

___ total items with a “Yes” x 0.6 = ___.

Calculate all of the points to obtain the final score. Total score is ____ out of a maximum of 100 points.

Results range from 100 to 0, with 100 being the ideal for the project's success potential. As a guideline, projects with a score less than 90 should be revisited—challenges or impediments should be addressed and resolved.

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How to Cite This Article

Graffius, Scott M. (2016, January 2). What Are Your Chances of Project Success? [From the Archives - First Published on 12 December 2012]. Available at:
https://scottgraffius.com/blog/files/archive---chances-of-project-success.html.
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© Copyright 2016 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.





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Typical Software Development Risks: Symptoms, Causes, Indicators, and Mitigations [From the Archives - First Published on 16 December 2012]

ScottGraffius_Com - From the Archives - Typical Software Development Risks and Mitigations - LwRes



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This article was first published on 16 December 2012.

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The risks for software development projects can vary. However, this article provides a view of the
typical risks along with the respective symptoms, root causes, leading indicators, and mitigations for each.

Risk: Inaccurate effort and estimates and schedules

  • Symptoms to watch for: Pattern of late deliverables; lack of awareness of schedule and status.
  • Potential root cause: Schedules based on business ('top down') need rather than team-generated ('bottom up').
  • Leading indicators: Earned value - schedule performance index (SPI).
  • Mitigations: 'Bottom up' planning; monitor effort and schedule; engage earned value for monitoring, control as needed.

Risk: Unconstrained requirements growth

  • Symptoms to watch for: Development staff cannot keep up with requirements changes.
  • Potential root cause: Requirements change not well-managed.
  • Leading indicators: Requirements change rate.
  • Mitigations: Plan for change (employ a requirements/change control process); don't start development until there is a stable set of requirements.

Risk: Dysfunctional organization

  • Symptoms to watch for: High project staff turnover; frequent staff reassignments; poor work environment; low productivity; staff lacks necessary skills and experience; and key role(s) are vacant.
  • Potential root cause: Lack of motivating work environment; poor management of project prioritization; lack of experience with work needed on project.
  • Leading indicators: Project staff turnover compared with historical trend; productivity; project team does not have an appropriate understanding of the requirements and project status.
  • Mitigation: Monitor, manage, and control issues and risks; status reporting; external (peer) assessment of project plans.

Risk: Poor software quality

  • Symptoms to watch for: High test defect counts; significant rework.
  • Potential root cause: Focus on schedule rather than quality.
  • Leading indicators: Test inspection yield; test defect density; defect discovery and closure rates/profiles.
  • Mitigation: Create a development quality plan that focuses on inspection rather than (only) test; measure and track against quality plan; cultivate a focus on software quality.

Risk: Under-performance

  • Symptoms to watch for: Low productivity.
  • Potential root cause: Technical complexity; development environment changes; under-achievement.
  • Leading indicators: Earned value - cost performance index (CPI).
  • Mitigation: Engaged earned value, control as needed.

Manage risks and you'll greatly improve the probability of success.

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How to Cite This Article

Graffius, Scott M. (2016, January 2). What Are Your Chances of Project Success? [From the Archives - First Published on 16 December 2012]. Available at:
https://scottgraffius.com/blog/files/archive---software-development-risks-and-mitigations.html.

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© Copyright 2016 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.





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