All projects have risk. Selecting a methodology that meets the needs of the project will also have risks. Project managers must be able to assess all risks prior to the project kickoff and throughout the projects life-cycle.

Provide a risk assessment for each indicated case studies in the article

Case 2

The organization: In the semiconductor production world, changes to clean rooms are frequent. Every few years, a new and improved process for treating silicon wafers comes along, old machines are moved out of the production floor, and new tools are moved in. The case related to a semiconductor company involved in such clean room clean out.

The project: The project had a very clear objective: move out all old tools, electrical foundations, and pipes from the fabrication clean room, and leave the production floor clear for a new set of tools to come in, starting at a certain, predetermined, date. The company awarded the project to a contractor with whom they had worked with in the past. They agreed on a fixed price project, with a well-defined scope of clearing the clean room and having it ready by the target date.

Project summary: The customer and the subcontractor both appointed project managers from their companies. The customer's project manager worked closely with the team, helping to solve issues as they occurred. Removal of the tools did not happen in the sequence that was planned. Tools that were scheduled for pull out, had to have a "clear to move" sticker on them, which indicates that all electrical and chemical lines to this tool have been cleared. The first three months of the project had a daily plan for the tools that were to be pulled out, but the list kept changing due to the fact that the customer hadn't been able to keep up with his commitments.

Following this troublesome start, every week, a two-hour meeting was held with all the contractor and customer leads, and a revised plan for the following week was created. Tools that had no chemical pipes were pulled out of the clean room instead of the bigger, more complex tools. The project management office (PMO) team kept the big picture of the progress updated. Every week, updates were collected from the field and presented at a weekly meeting. The plan for the next week was created based on this data and the original baseline plan. The sequencing and coordination between the various sub-contractors was also led by the PMO planning.

Daily stand-up meetings were held in the field, to ensure that all were clear on the day's objectives. These meetings proved to be extremely beneficial in aligning the teams in the field to the plan, and resolving issues as they became relevant. The working teams came from four different sub-contacting companies, and each team worked on a different area of the clean room. They tried not to mix but to stay within their own teams. The project managers coordinated the work in the clean room. At the end of each day, additional walk-throughs were conducted to ensure the plan was set for the next day.

Buffer management, daily stand-up meetings, focusing on the entire picture, no multi-disciplinary teams, and weekly rapid and flexible response to change, throughput analysis, and co-management were key in managing this project. The project was extremely successful. It finished with an excellent safety record (no one was hurt), a month ahead of schedule, and met all its objectives.