Risks factors identification and assessment in virtual projects of software industry: A survey study

The technological advanced global environment has originated multi-cultural virtual teams. It is quite novel conception to practitioners. The growth of virtual teams, virtual work groups, and virtual companies has been expedited with the arrival of internet technology that provides low-cost telecommunication and emails facilities. Different companies in all over the world and in Pakistan are rapidly adopting the concept of virtual teams also. The system by which these virtual teams interact and work together to achieve a specific goal in a predetermined time span, is called virtual project management. Managing virtual teams is a multifaceted task. The literature reports different risks factors like, cultural differences, trust, time zone, communication etc. That are involved in global software development. The purpose of this research that is based on a survey is to analyze these factors in Pakistan software industry. The major risks identified by this study are; (1) communication risk, (2) schedule risk and (3) cultural risk. The significances of this generalization are used as alleviation for virtual project team manager in virtual projects. This survey study provides fundamental indication that foremost project risk is different in a virtual environment, still there is need to develop an understanding and explore the virtual project risks. Apart from the major risk factor, i.e. Communication risk, the other risk areas also needs in depth. It has been concluded that there is a great need to improve painstaking understanding of the critical risks acknowledged here interrelates with one another and in-depth study needs to be carried out on how well a project manager can forestall, accomplish and alleviate the risks.