Technology project managers could establish a decent plan, assign resources, and watch the project flow smoothly to completion if project circumstances stayed constant from beginning to end. However, projects are carried out in a dynamic environment where conditions vary and risks exist, which can impact project schedule, cost, scope, methodologies, and team members. Technology project managers should consequently employ effective change and risk management strategies, with the purpose of anticipating and responding to changes and risk occurrences in order to avoid, or at least mitigate, negative consequences.
As per General Dwight Eisenhower “In preparing for combat, I have found plans to be useless but planning to be important”. While scholars may not agree that plans are useless for technology projects, Eisenhower’s point is that going through the planning process—defining objectives (and deliverables), laying out an approach (WBS), assigning resources, and having effective monitoring and communication methods in place—provides an organized foundation for executing the project, making necessary adjustments, and delivering results. Risk and change management are critical components of project planning and execution.
Except in extreme circumstances, projects can absorb changes with minimal interruption provided project planning anticipates probable implications and appropriate response measures are implemented.
Risk is inherent in technology and other IT initiatives. The ultimate focus of the technology project manager is to consider potential risk events that may affect project time, cost, quality, and so on throughout project planning and execution. The goal of risk management is to help the technology project manager better detect risk events early on and take action to minimize or mitigate the project’s negative impacts.
The Standish Group, a well-known research and consulting firm, has been conducting comprehensive studies of IT projects in a wide range of enterprises since 1994, examining their performance in contrast to their projected objectives, timeline, and budget. The findings of these investigations, known as CHAOS reports, have repeatedly demonstrated that many IT projects (more than 50%) had a significant schedule and budget overruns and that around 30% of them were failures and were canceled—and this is still the case in the most recent iteration (Standish Group, 2020). The Standish Group also researched the reasons for IT project failures and found that the most common causes were poor planning (including a lack of a thorough requirement assessment) and poor execution.
However, the results of this study concluded that these issues may be avoided by conducting thorough project planning prior to implementation and implementing effective project monitoring, reporting, task delegation, and communications, and it is acceptable to use the findings from the Standish CHAOS Reports to technology projects. Technology and IT projects are typically complicated, incorporating the most modern technological tools, processes, and the requirement to include users and subject matter experts in design and development. Many other risks involved with design and analysis should be transferable from the realm of IT to technology.