Risk And Projects
No matter how good the team or how efficient the methodology, if we are not solving the right problem the project fails
Projects are designed for some social or commercial purpose, Big projects has milestones, tasks and their schedule. Most importantly it also has risks and issues.
Risk becomes issue if not handled well. Or issue can pop up if project is not planned well, accident or over looked aspects or two.
May be we have best team in place. May be we have best resources at our service. May be there is no dearth of budget and we are running
Planning risk at the time of project drafting or project planning is key quality of Project manager. If project manager is able to see through project and anticipate risks or accidents and plan safety for it. It demonstrates that Project Manager is veteran and well read, well experienced.
We need to plan all risks well during project planning. Only well experienced Project Manager can see through projects, scan tasks and milestones and can anticipate all that could probably go wrong or had gone wrong; SO we can prepare for it wel in advance and ensure it does not affect our project execution.
Most tools helps you plan for tasks, milestones, parent tasks, dependancies, their attractive gantt chats and budget sheets. This is undoubtedly important part of every project. But One which is also equally important is Risk Management system and issue tracking system which is usually rare to be seen.
Risk managing is skill which only comes from planning and executing multiple projects in same domain. Risk management system as it will help you forecast and document all the possible risks. Once these are in front of our eyes. We can allot resources for these risks. We may keep provision of its effect on project timeline and project budget as well. Once the risks are listed then we will actively make an effort to eliminate them or mitigate them.
If it’s not documented, it is not done. Hence first we should be documenting all risk and there is no better way to document risk than a risk management tool. Best part of risk management tool is it enables us to do various aspects of risk. Which evolves us as project manager to manage risk in better way.
Lets see what is better way of documenting Risks.
While we document risk, it should have following things listed with their elaboration :
- Timeline : Timelines might get affected because of risks, and we should keep that documented within the project plan. Our efforts will be to minimise this effect or eliminate it completely but that can only happen if we have documented it well
- Risk Owner : We should be allotting who is responsible to handle this risk. Which person will be the owner of this risk and should plan activities in order to deal with this risk. If we have owner, we know who should be asked questions. We will have one person accountable for that risk.
- Project Manager : It is important to see the risk well in advance. And it is Project Manager’s job to anticipate all possible risks. More Risks anticipated during project planning lessyou encounter them as issues or accidents. So Issue creator is important person and usually Project Manager
The most important part is, risk becomes issue or accident when not delt well. So acnticipate them, document them well in advance and act upon them. Allot resoruces and owners to it and action items that are required to be taken in order to mitigate that risk or eliminate that risk.
Every project has risk. One has to own them, accept them and ensure to eliminate them or mitigate their effect. Project is worth executing when complete risk vs benefits analysis is studied and proactive efforts are taken to manage those risks.
ZilicusPM is coupled with systematic risk management tool. This is helpful in anticipating and planning for every risk related to specific projects.
ZilicusPM as tool has evolved over multiple years while dealing with multiple projects, portfolios, various teams and cultures. In ZilicusPM we not just have systematic risk management tool but once risk is not delt and converted into issue. In ZilicusPM we also have detailed Issue management system.