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 [...]]]>

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 it has happened, the issue shall be managed with specific techniques, then they will be registered as “Learned Lessons”.

Properly sterilized of any chance of “pointing the finger”, they will be “dissected” in the following elements:

1. Nature: in which area has occurred the event?
2. Source (root cause) understanding the specific scenario (methods, conditions  and their application).
3. Event: what has triggered the problem .
4. Likelihood: how many similar situations has escaped the problems?
5. Impact: which type of resources were required for avoiding/limiting the damages.
6. Which has been the winning strategy to reduce the damages (e.g. hiring an expert, removing the clear and unique/major cause of the problem, improving the needed skills).

These four elements are needed for improving the efficiency of the Risk Management.

Nature

The importance (impact) of risks depends upon the project’s scope. It could range from delivery time to performances or costs. Varying the importance imposes different strategies, for example:

1. Establishing the threshold’s value.
2. The specific resources dedicated for setting and monitoring the trigger
3. The kind of action to be used for reducing the impact

Source

Understanding the surrounding conditions which brought that effect has the same value as finding the cause of it.Like an explosion, the most important factor remains the presence and quantity of inflammable materials.

Event

This element does not vary so much. However, it is extremely important to understand and clearly stated the specific reason that created the problem. This requires to frame the action (or the lack of it) in the proper scenario.

Likelihood

It is just a figure, usually produced by math tools. This number is strictly related to the estimations – especially in the way these are worked out.

Impact

How much “money” did total the damage? From the answer, it would be easier setting the weight of the “potential” damage on the budget.

Winning strategies

The result shall be chosen among these elements:

• Avoidance
• Mitigation
• Transference
• Acceptance

The limits of crises management

When the risk has been actualized, most of the available resources are absorbed by the efforts to limit the damages. This reduces the range of options, either for the sense of urgency or lack of solutions obtainable within short time.

Fire-fighting is an activity that could be emotionally rewarding, a sense of heroism can pervade the whole team. This could increase the sense of cohesion, that will be paid with a high price. Gung-Ho attitude in a commercial enterprise could seriously reduce the ability to deal with other stakeholders (to be perceived as enemies).

Conclusion

Risk Management is a fundamental part of the Project/Program Management. Instead of thinking in terms of silos, it is better to reason using “watertight bulkheads” method. Once the crisis has been solved, the issue shall be sanitized and each of its parts, used for improving the management of risk.

“Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.”

The “Options”  should be in the number of three; these are the main properties:

The value of best practice should be measured in its capacity for responding to the needs of a reasonable range of projects; both in quality (different scopes) and dimension (relation between time and budget).

This fundamental requirement is based on the need for maintaining the management’s accountability throughout the whole [...]]]>

Like a butterfly with invisible wings

The value of best practice should be measured in its capacity for responding to the needs of a reasonable range of projects; both in quality (different scopes) and dimension (relation between time and budget).

This fundamental requirement is based on the need for maintaining the management’s accountability throughout the whole process. For this reason, the differences among the various versions of “best practices” cannot be overwhelming. Either the projects (program) are focused on releasing products or setting up services, the whole process has to be kept linear. An ordinate series of input and output, where for each of them there is one person responsible and the “algorithm” (with its laws and range criteria) is properly defined.

Or a coloful ant

How to use best practice as strategy

As soon as the project (program) manager can offer a clear, credible and accessible history (through the shrewd usage of strategy) operating the resources made available to him/her, the alleged “lack of transparency” from the stakeholders can be treated as risk. Therefore, monetized.

How to deal with your company’s best practice (if any available)

Methodologies are always good ideas. However, the human beings called to implement them are limited, if not fallacious. Best practices have to fill the gap between the ideal world and the nitty-gritty of each company’s reality.

On the other side of the coin, strategies are just logical tools for the correct usage of the best practices.

They are part of the company’s structure. The only acceptable attitude toward them is a positive acceptance. All efforts to understand the underlining logic (there always is one) can greatly help to understand the predominant culture. Instead of trying to improve one or another aspect, it is important to find who (and possibly why) set that rule. It could offer a good hindsight to be used for designing and using strategies.

Is  eclecticism a value?

Throughout this blog, as mirror of my career, I tend to invest energy for learning and improving techniques. It shall be different from poaching ideas from a quick glance to some other blogs (and the ubiquitous Wikipedia – a big cheer to the scores of people working on it).

A deep understanding and honest testing different solutions could increase the skill-set and improve the personal qualities.

However, this approach hides some big risks.

1. A growing faith in the technique, forgetting the fundamentals (either economic or personal)
2. Too much focus on a single aspect of the problem causes a bias toward just only one idea, leaving out all the complexity of the problem under exam.
3. Fall in love with the novelty. The new (sometimes, untested) is not yet bound to old failures. However, they do not grant new success, without considering all risks (the novelty is one of the biggest)
4. Mashing up different (and poor understood) ideas can create costly misshapes.

Conclusion

As consultant, I have been lucky to work in very different environment (either business or cultural). At the beginning of each project, the most recurrent phrase is about how different is that specific environment. After a while (and a bit of hard work) people and processes appear in their “standard uniqueness”. Robust best practices have worked (duly tuned) in every project.

Like the human beings, good rules can be used in different situation, the common factors are always the same:

1. Mutual respect for each person, whatever is his/her role.
2. Good mastering of the tools of the trade. Their box is called “best practice”.

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.

More reading

http://www.acq.osd.mil/sse/docs/IMP_IMS_Guide_v9.pdf  (kindly pointed out  by  Glen Alleman ) It offer an organic viewpoint about program/project management.

Like any other enterprise, each project needs a specific strategy.

This word was coined by Ancient Greeks joining the words “army” and “moving”. Logistics has the same origin, and it is the natural companion (an example how available materiel and good intelligence can influence strategy is the “Battle of Kursk”) .

If you like a [...]]]>

Greek phalanx

Like any other enterprise, each project needs a specific strategy.

This word was coined by Ancient Greeks joining the words “army” and “moving”. Logistics has the same origin, and it is the natural companion (an example how available materiel and good intelligence can influence strategy is the “Battle of Kursk”) .

If you like a ad hoc definition: “strategy is an efficient way to enforce governance through a chain of  decisions linked by the same logic and independent in the way they face a new challenge“.

Plans deal with the future; they are just well structured wishes. Instead strategy is the art of dealing with competitive situations (either theoretical or real) as a whole. Tactics are referred to a series of actions focused to deal with a single aspect of the problem.

Reliable plans have to be fed with information. Dealing with stakeholders (they are never considered as enemies, just as allies with various grades of trustworthiness) needs a good strategy for understanding the best way for obtaining information that will form plans. These shall be bought both by customers (external) and producers (internal stakeholders).

The ability to elicit affirmation followed by confirmation is the essence of strategy. It is not limited to the salesmanship to be intended as ability to buy-in sponsors for the project.  Most of energies shall be concentrated on the series of “conquests”, where each of them brings some more knowledge to be transformed into agreed results.

Every (group of) stakeholder has his/her own petitions.

They are not limited to product’s features, budget or delivery date. Architects and developers have their motions, too.

1. Architectural choices
2. Development environment (tools)
3. Test Driven Development
4. Unit test
5. Peer reviews
6. Refactoring

These techniques will have a strong impact on fundamental issues like quality, budget and delivery time.

However, the section of the strategy that deals with development has to consider the skills and attitude (e.g.  contractual position) of producers.

The users – very often accused of being untoward to the novelties – have their petitions as well. Their power, often expressed with mumbles, is neglected until the project has been delivered. Are, their request for features, matched with the specs? Has the PM taken some energy for clearing the path from disastrous gossips about unresolved problems?

Conclusion

Strategy, plans and tactics are three different arts that form the essential support for leadership. Making forecasts is always difficult, try to do it without considering the interests of each project’s participant is just absurd.

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”

More readings

Strategy as definition.

We Don’t Have Requirements Yet, But How Long Will This Take You?