Towards a Design Theory for Software Project Risk Management Systems

This paper outlines the design principles for software project risk management systems. The artifact accounts for the interrelationships among factors belonging to four risk dimensions: project traits, undesirable events, management practices, and project outcomes. We conducted a case survey of 60 software projects and observed patterns of interplay among risk components. Four patterns were found: the multiplicative effect of project traits, the sequentiality effect of undesirable events, the presence of a third variable, and the tradeoff when implementing risk management practices. Those patterns were then used to derive three design principles for the IT-artifact – the association, the regulation, and the simulation principles. To validate those principles, we intend to prototype the IT-artifact and intervene in an organizational setting. If the artifact is judged to be useful, it presents a practical solution to project managers by providing a more accurate assessment of risk exposure than existing computational