Transcript
INSTRUCTOR
In project risk management, it's important to do it right from the start, not when the project is running, even way before that. When you start to make your assumptions, your assessment on what the business case of it will be, this is when you need to put all the time in to understand what may go wrong. And you need to be mindful of that and need to provision for that, that need to be part of the business case, including those things that you will do in order to prevent them from happening. So this for the start.
Another thing in project risk management projects, nowadays, get more and more complex. So which on the one hand side means there is a lot of risk that you need to burn down in a very timely manner because the later you retire risks, the more expensive it will be if they hit you. So focus on those. You might deliver a safe thing a bit later. But don't rush to deliver something that may fall apart.
The other thing is ask of the complexity. Nowadays, many, many people are involved. Make sure that you bring in a culture of very good communication and openness on those risks. There might be things that are down there at the individual engineer level that might make the whole project fail. So make sure there is an openness to communicate these risks. These risks need to come to the right level getting the right attention to be managed in the right way and in a timely manner. It's going to be more expensive the later you do it.
When you then eventually have a good understanding right at the start of your project, what are all the things that can or cannot go wrong- all your uncertainties? You need to make sure that your financial plans reflect that asset contingency, likewise, not only your financial plans but your plans that you eventually execute time wise. They need to reflect all the things that you do in order to address those uncertainties, to address those risks, and eventually to deliver what you want it to say- what you want it to do.
Don't forget about if you're working in a project environment, you are not alone. It's not only your project. There are lots of other things that might interfere interact with you. The first are the projects. If another project may have a major shortfall, it might impact you, or it might actually consume the same resources that you look forward to use. So interact with other projects but be mindful of how they may interfere with you. So this is where it comes to master scheduling, bringing things together, and really make sure that those things, those uncertainties are managed as part of your schedule and as part of the master schedule.
The other bit that will definitely interact with you are functional areas, like finance for sure, if you plan for all your financial needs but likewise, others like legal if there are legal changes coming around that might affect you but likewise, things like your infrastructure, IT. There are lots of things that you will inevitably be impacted by if they, even outside your project, might go wrong. So mind that and stay in contact with those.
Important things about managing risk in a project are, A, take your time at the beginning. Really understand what you're up to and do all the precautions and all the mitigations that you need. There's a Chinese saying saying, "If you need to be quick, go slowly." Another thing is never assume you're better than your predecessors or the others, the other project. Make sure you learn from them. Take all the things that went wrong from other ends and make sure you accounted for those.
And last but not least, don't be optimistic. Make sure you have a balanced portfolio between things that can go right and can go even better and those that can go wrong. If you really keep the balance there, that will help you to deliver to your target. The ultimate difference between managing risk right- or managing risk right makes the difference between delivering and travelling on hope.