What risks you run when you think you can manage?

Outsourcing and technology projects may come with a few risks, that can be managed, or mismanaged, it is your decision. Some people question the need for governance, failing to understand the deficiencies related to cultural issues, increased communication and co-ordination costs, lack of experience in managing technology, and, reliability. Recently, I had to involve the Police of Malta in recouping 500 EUR, paid as a deposit to a foreign-based software provider. The investigation goes on for months and all depends on the agreement of the beneficiary to return the funds once the funds have been deposited to his/her account. Therefore, if the beneficiary wanted to take the smartest position he would simply refused to return the monies, and, it is all perfectly legal, notwithstanding that the original contract of work was not honoured. This is not fair, and, one may question whether the costs of litigation are worth paying at this stage. Not sure if you want to ask the Malta Chamber of Advocates for their opinion. Taking out an insurance policy to cover the risk is not always possible, and, insurance comes at a cost as well, so one has to balance the risk-benefit of taking the risk against the risk of insuring the risk, if at all possible. Risk mitigation is an important branch of project management that deserves research on its own merits. Methodologies such as PRAM, and, software estimation methods such as COCOMO/COCOMO II allow for estimation of effort that takes into consideration effort, complexity based on the use of lines of code (or KLOC) to estimate the software development effort based on empirical evidence. If you feel that risk management, insurance and reliability are important factors to attain re-assurance of the quality of the delivery, you may drop me an email, and, we can meet for a coffee. Regards, Jonathan Camilleri IADCS http://mt.linkedin.com/in/jonathancamilleri/
International corruption trends