Tips for Project Risk Management Success

This article describes the basic rules of risk management to ensure that your projects always run with full success.

Tip 1 - Implement a robust identification process

It seems easy. However, there are still many projects today that are conducted without formal risk identification. Still others believe that they use risk management appropriately, but do not use the appropriate risk identification techniques. The identification process depends on the project, the organization and the culture of the company involved. It is therefore best to consider these areas to determine the most effective approach. This could be so simple as to educate the team about the actual nature of the risks and to ask them to regularly review the landscape for new risks. For larger projects, you can also use the PMO to ensure that risk identification is included in the drum beat.

Tip 2 - Be positive

Risk management recognizes and controls negative risks and positive risks. However, most projects generally only focus on negative risks. Make sure you include clear reminders and indicators in your risk management process to account for the positive risks. A delivery that is way ahead of schedule can be a good thing, but it can also have unintended consequences in other areas or make the project ineffective. On the other hand, such a positive risk can actually help offset the impact of negative risks in other areas.

Tip # 3 - prioritize priority

Not all risks are the same and the amount of resources that can be used to mitigate them is still limited. Therefore, it is important to rank risks according to the "likelihood" or probability of risk attainment and "efficiency" when the risk becomes a problem. In this way, the project manager and all team members can identify the risks they need to focus on. Using a risk governance model is a very effective way to accomplish this. Most organizations would have a standard template for this, otherwise many would be online.

Tip 4 - Apply the right property

Often, project organization members assume that the project manager bears all the risks, but that's completely wrong. Risks can affect large areas of the broader stakeholder group, and resources with relevant knowledge or expertise in this area are usually in a much better position to take responsibility for the risk and take appropriate remedial action.

Tip 5 - Communicate and follow until closing

With the right identification, classification and ownership allocation, we need to make sure that this is not the last step in the risk management process. At this point it is important that the risks are properly communicated. First, the owner responsible for managing the mitigation measures and then the relevant stakeholder group must be aware of the risk and the potential impact on their respective areas. It is also important that risks are regularly monitored and monitored to the point of completion in terms of the progress of mitigation actions and possible changes in impact / probability classification as these actions are.

Summary

By following the above advice, project managers can take control of the risk management of their projects, providing a solid basis for the proper performance of their work.