7/21/2019 Common Risks in Agile Projects and How to Deal with Them - Grata Software

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Common Risks in Agile Projects and

How to Deal with Them
Feb 27, 2018 • Donna Raphael-Rene • Product Development, Product Management,
Technical Consulting

Every project has some degree of risk involved. The risk could have a high to
low impact on the project. The risk could be positive or negative, helpful or
harmful and internal or external. How you plan for risks in your projects
determines what will happen should a risk arise that needs to be prevented,
mitigated or dealt with.

Similar to Waterfall projects, in Agile projects, risks need to be identi ed and

managed. Below discusses common risks that arise in Agile projects and how
they can be dealt with.

Scope Creep

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When it comes to features in software development, it is very easy to get scope

creep. If requirements are not properly de ned from the start, when features
are being built there’s a good chance new additions that were not originally
agreed on will slip into the mix.

Here’s how to prevent that from happening:

1. Prepare a clearly detailed scope of the project

2. De ne requirement speci cations and acceptance criteria

3. Get the stakeholders to sign o on this scope agreement

4. Determine what requirements need to be involved in the phase you are

working on vs. future phases or versions.

5. Develop and implement a change control process that the stakeholders are
aware of and agree to

6. Monitor the project progress against the scope

Examples of speci c issues in Agile that a ect the project scope:

1. Lacking details in task descriptions – make sure all details are present and
clear for the team so they know exactly what they are creating. The best way to
write these out are in the form of user-stories or technical requirements

2. The product owner keeps changing their mind or adds on new features as
the team progresses – while the product owner is in charge of making sure the
project requirements are being met, they also need to be made aware
whenever they request work that deviates from the original plan

3. Priorities or directions change – sometimes stakeholder priorities or the

direction of the project changes and thus, features that were not originally
planned take top priority over the others. When this happens, it’s important to
make sure the stakeholders understand the impact this will have on the project
scope and even the timeline and budget.
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Timeline Issues

Another important aspect of a project is the timeline that is set for it. This
timeline can be determined based on the number of available resources to do
the work and the amount of e ort it will take to meet the requirements of the
project. Like any schedule planning, things can go awry that may delay the
progress of a project causing it to nish late or sooner than planned.  However,
we will focus on the more undesirable outcome of the project being late and
suggest these ways to prevent that from happening.

When planning a timeline, give yourself padding for error. That means:

1. Factor in the possibility of holidays – sta or the client may take extra o
days

2. Plan for unexpected sick days – make sure every resource has a backup
buddy to cover for them

3. In the event a team member leaves or is let go, have another resource lined
up to ll their place

4. Have plans in place for team members that may struggle to get the work
done due to complexity, lack of motivation or other factors

5. Factor in other possible delays such as emergencies that can hinder

production, even by a day

6. Account for the fact that there will be delays in approvals – add those
windows for your clients to give them at minimum 24 hours to get back to you

7. There are very rare occasions where things are approved on the rst
iteration. Allow time to accommodate a few rounds of edits

8. Allow time for testing and QA

9. Give yourself that extra padding for the unknowns and force majeure

Examples of speci c issues in Agile that a ect the project schedule are:

1. The agile team may over or underestimate their tasks – as time goes by, the
team should be more con dent in putting their estimates in place.

2. The sprint goal is not met or changes mid-sprint – the team needs to have a
clear understanding of the sprint goal and commit to the tasks they will be
performing in the sprint

It is always better to have prevention, mitigation and action plans in place.

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Most importantly, always communicate to the client the moment you know
that you will be running late on deliverables.

Very tight timelines give almost no margin for error. While we would like to run
a project 100% smoothly with no interruptions, the reality is we need to plan
for the worst but aim for the best outcome possible.

Budget Issues

If the true e ort to do the work is accurately determined, this can be used to
estimate the budget based on hours and resources. Quality and value are also
other factors that can be considered for a budget estimate. Creating the
budget and tracking the cost throughout the project progress is important. On
occasions where a project may be running over budget may indicate that there
was scope creep, poor planning, bad development or other factors that
resulted in an increase in cost over what was originally estimated. Being too far
under budget may also indicate that there were things missing from the project
that should have been done, or the customer was overcharged.

There is a balance that needs to be walked when dealing with a project budget.
While you do need a reserve for unknown issues that may come up, you also
need to keep track and account for everything.

When planning your budget, take into account these risks and how to prevent them:

1. Underquoting or over quoting – if you are not 100% con dent in your
numbers, ask for input from subject matter experts who know more details
about the line items you are unsure of.

2. Not having a reserve – if you quote the exact cost for a ‘perfect world
scenario’ chances are you would more than likely fall in the underquoting
category which in turn will cause you to lose money. Always make sure you are
accurate, but also be sure there is security added as well for protection.

3. Scope and timeline issues – there should be action plans in place such as
how to handle the costs of change controls, delays and other circumstances,
whenever something changes during a project’s progress that will a ect the
budget.

Many of the factors that can a ect a budget come back to making sure a
proper scope is de ned for the project. This is the rst step in determining a
proper budget can be put in place without many gray areas.

Once you are able to identify risks in your project and put plans together for
them, you will be in a better position to handle these risks to ensure a higher
probability of project success.

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For more information, check out these posts:

Sprints: Agile Development Process

Don’t Skip Your Sprint Retrospectives

Agile Management of Software Projects

The Right Agile Foundations Will Strengthen Your Success

3 Tips on Working with Remote Agile Teams

agile project management scrum sprints testing and quality assurance

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DONNA RAPHAEL-RENE
Project Manager

I have a drive and passion for development, project management, social media
and music with career backgrounds in those elds. At Grata, I am the Project
Manager who oversees small to large software projects. On my personal time, I
have many hobbies such as I enjoy watching international dramas, I produce
music, I'm a big movie bu and more.

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