The successful control of information technology (IT) projects has received significant attention in academe and in practice. Previous studies have shown the effectiveness of formal control modes in the performance of IT projects for project managers. However, little is known about the joint effects of risks and the two informal control modes, clan and self control, on the process performance of IT projects from the perspective of user liaisons. Based on data collected from 63 completed IT projects in China, we have found that both clan and self control are important from the perspective of user liaisons and that informal control is effective for the performance of different stakeholders. However, both team and planning and control risks suppress the effectiveness of clan and self control in process performance, indicating that IT project performance is not purely dependent on a single risk or control factor but on the balance between these two streams.