Managing risk on digital projects

In a fast changing digital world with a lot of unpredictability, taking on new challenges and initiatives often introduces a lot of risk, which leads to those players who can’t afford that risk to shy away from meaningful business transformations, such as a proper implementation of high-level AI tools.

But what if these companies and organizations instead better equipped themselves with the right resources and strategies to manage those risks and overcome the challenges that arise from them?

This is what we’re going to look at in this article, focusing on three main areas: (project) management, web development and partnerships with agencies & other companies. After those we’ll also look at the broader issue of societal disruptions and those concerning artificial intelligence. Let’s get started.

Project management

Project managers and project leads who are responsible for the success of a project need to pay particular attention to all the potential risks involved in order to better manage and minimize those risks.

In a recent podcast episode with guest Anton Skornyakov, certified Scrum Trainer and author of The Art of Slicing Work, he provides managers and leaders with a fantastic tip for reducing the risks in (derisking) your projects: imagine that the project has failed in every possible way, determine why this happened, then focus on the risks with the highest probability and impact.

This requires a clear understanding of project goals for every stakeholder involved in the project. What’s also necessary is a collaborative work culture without silos where the different teams and departments are in alignment, and which empowers efficient collaboration through psychological safety.

Engineering & IT

With engineering serving as the backbone of a successful digital initiative, chief technology officers and other tech lead roles also hold a lot of responsibility, as they are most often deeply involved in technology decisions.

A reliable technique for managing risk is opting for open-source software solutions over proprietary technologies. Open source tends to be more easily customizable, which allows for greater flexibility and enables a more future-proof digital strategy. On top of that, opting for open source alleviates the fear of vendor lock-in and the huge financial & time expenses associated with replatforming.

That said, leveraging outdated open-source technologies that don’t get regular updates introduces its own set of risks, so the best bet is to go with an established open-source solution which enjoys regular pain-free updates (e.g. using React for your front-end needs).

Another key tactic for managing risk is test-driven development and automated testing. Similarly to how project managers can minimize the risks of failure by imagining what that failure would look like, developers can do so by writing tests up front and integrating them into the development process.

Lastly, just like in the Project management section above, alignment and collaboration are also extremely important for the success of digital projects. If engineering is in alignment with other departments and the communication between them is smooth, this greatly reduces the risks of numerous back and forths, huge scope changes, misunderstood features, etc.

Partnerships

Strategic partnerships with proven experts can be a very reliable way to undergo successful & timely digital projects. They especially bring a lot of value in volatile, uncertain environments with specific demands (e.g. engineers skilled in a particular technology), since they allow businesses to up/downsize according to the requirements of a specific project, rather than having to hire full-time employees and then have them benched (or worse – fired) once the scope of work diminishes or a change to the strategy takes place.

Of course, proper vetting of potential partners is essential to ensuring a successful partnership which introduces no extra risks to the project(s). Some of the key things to look for and consider are: industry expertise with proof of success (such as reviews and testimonials from satisfied clients) and culture fit (things like the potential partner’s values, workflows, their employee experience, etc.).

Bigger picture

Finally, we need to address a significant risk area over which it is much more difficult, or even impossible, to have direct control: the bigger picture of societal disruptions and how these affect the global and local economies.

The future is inherently unpredictable; there is no single strategy that can shield businesses from disruptions such as wars, pandemics, supply chain disruptions, or the current AI explosion. Well, actually, there is one strategy… Becoming resilient to changeand embracing it as a ubiquitous factor in digital initiatives.

Basically, the more resilient to change you are, the less heavily impacted you’ll be by unpredictable societal disruptions. Many of the things mentioned so far are also important here, i.e. an open-source foundation and a human-centered company culturewhich prioritizes learning and collaboration based on psychological safety.

An important strategy in preparing for unexpected changes is embracing agility and adopting agile practices. These are already often followed in modern project/product management and software development, but become even more important and valuable in a volatile market with a high frequency and likelihood of disruptions.

In conclusion

So, to recap, these are essential elements of effectively managing risk on digital projects:

• Derisk projects by imagining failure upfront and taking measures accordingly
• Use open-source software that’s tried and tested, and allows for more flexibility
• Implement test-driven development and automated testing
• Form strategic partnerships with companies which complement your expertise and align with your culture and values
• Embrace and plan for change by implementing agile practices

We hope this article helps your digital initiatives be smoother and more successful going forward. In case you need extra development capacity for your next project, take a look at how Agiledrop can help you and feel free to get in touch to learn more.