Risk Management – Sharing the Learning - Scenario 1

Let us see some hypothetical situations and the corresponding challenges which can be potential risks for the project. Also are accompanied mitigation strategies for these challenges.

First Time Customer / First Time Off-shoring

Potential Challenges:

• Low Confidence Level - Being the first engagement, it is very natural for the client to be apprehensive.
• Insecurity - Off-shoring is a paradigm shift for customers that are off-shoring first time customers. It is difficult to digest the fact that people, miles away can understand their requirements and deliver in time.
• Frequent changes – Typically customers engaging off-shore firms for the first time are not used to adhering processes. Frequent changes to the requirements are a common observation with such clients. Also many such clients have implicit requirements and expect the incorporation of the same in the project.
• Typically such clients find estimation as one of the issue areas of discontent.
All such issues manifest itself typically in risks like requirements issues, micromanagement from client and relationship endangerment.

Mitigation Strategies:

• Educate the client on offshore processes and practices. Arranging a client visit to the offshore development centre is a good way to boost the client confidence.
• Have elaborate communication plan with multiple and multi-level communication channel e.g. the project sponsor can have two or three points of contact. This redundancy in communication channel helps to foster the necessary confidence.
• The customer facing team needs to be oriented / trained in appropriate soft skills and have the client cultural sensitivity.
• During requirements elicitation phase adopt a process driven approach to ensure holistic information capture. Apart from functional requirements try to elicit the non functional requirements also e.g. performance, user interface, maintainability, etc.
• Try and adopt a top down and standard estimation approach such as Function Points. These are easy for the client to verify and accept.
• Transparency – Keep the client informed all the time. In case any critical issue is anticipated, share the same albeit with an appropriate mitigation strategy.