A High-Reliability Approach to Risk Management in an IT Project

This article describes how an organization successfully managed a particularly high-risk and complex IT implementation project using an approach found in High-Reliability Organizations (HROs). HROs include organizations such as nuclear power plants and air traffic control systems, which typically operate within high-complexity, high-risk, and high-cost-of-failure environments. As such, HROs develop organizational cultures and management strategies designed to mitigate the risks inherent in their environments and deliver value to their clientele. The organization in this study, a public utility that had been sold to a private investment firm, faced the challenge of rebuilding its information technology and systems infrastructure while confronting highly rigid and aggressive time and quality of service requirements. We identify the specific HRO-like environmental elements and risks faced by IT management in this organization and link those elements to the strategies they employed in successfully completing the project. Those linkages in turn serve as a model to guide IT management facing similar challenges.