Risk management « A PM's workshop

Risk&Opportunity Register structurep

By Eugenio, on October 14th, 2009

“Bureaucracy is not an obstacle to democracy but an inevitable complement to it.”

The following list has been conceived as shared tool available to all stakeholders. It is the first step toward the full (balanced) involvement of anyone in the effort of delivering the successful project.

The choice of using the same registry for managing Risk and [...]

Maturity and risks

By Eugenio, on September 22nd, 2009

Cultural risk attitude is the value for gauging the proclivity toward a possible event that, if it happens, can modify the single output or the whole outcome.

At the project’s definition, this value is associated to well define the threshold. It is the boundary that fixes the boundary on the Risk Matrix.

On the daily basis, this [...]

Red herrings

By Eugenio, on September 21st, 2009

Drawing symmetry

Managing projects includes the crunching of a lot of data. A well working system could provide a steady flow of information that, given the reliability grade, offers a picture of the actual situation and then possible scenarios.

This model remains valid for most of our activities. Sources and kind of data can vary a [...]

Risk and leadership (art of delivering decisions)

By Eugenio, on August 13th, 2009

Leading is about direction

Since the leadership is classified as source of risk, it is essential to understand it and then find, if possible, a simple way for measuring its efficacy through the evaluation of results.
Merriam Webster’s definition: “capacity to lead”.
In a project environment, this should be focused on the stakeholders’ relationships. In particular [...]

Contingencies & Risks

By Eugenio, on August 5th, 2009

“Contingency / workaround plans”, or “Exception plan” [3] should be viewed as a stem of the Risk Plan. A bud, which can sprout quickly and strongly, because it has all the information (DNA, if you have a boy who loves biology) is contained in the [...]

Risks & Issues

By Eugenio, on July 30th, 2009

Watertight bulkhead

Risks are (measurable) future uncertainties that influence the project’s output.

Issues are already happened facts that reduce the project’s benefits. At the best, in terms of decreasing the available resources; those put away for dealing with the risks’ consequences.

Risks are “potential” issues. The formers, if not properly dealt with, can generate the latter. Once [...]

Milestones and risk management

By Eugenio, on July 27th, 2009

Titanic in dock

Thanks Craig. You got right about the need for frequent and more specialized controls.

By the way, originally “milestones” (in the Roman roads) were set every mile (0.91% of the Imperial mile). Every day-long leg (15-18 miles) there were structures serving both passengers (divided by categories) and animals. An interesting point was that [...]

Risk contracts in Business Case

By Eugenio, on July 23rd, 2009

Finding the right connections

In the Business Case, Risks are future occurrences that could reduce the ability to respect Costs and Timescale (and Performance).

The risks are shaped by “Options” and the resources needed for reducing their impacts should be found within the “Benefits Expected”. If the strategy for tackling a risk is based on its [...]

Reviewing Risk Management (Business Case)

By Eugenio, on July 22nd, 2009

Risk impacts' evaluation matrix

Thank to Glen (Herding cats) for introducing this important topic. The standard formula used for calculating risks (that is presented in most Project Management manuals) shall be presented in a less trivial way.

There are at least two areas for improving the usage of the formula (and derived matrix):

Risk impact = importance [...]