Arbutus Technical Consulting
Arbutus Technical Consulting prepares and delivers bespoke training to clients. We also offer a 'off-the-peg' training course in practical project risk management.
Practical Project Risk Management
Learning the theory of risk management is straightforward but some skill is required to put this theory into practice. It is a bit like learning how to avoid and recover from a skid in a car - reading the book isn't enough. We do become better drivers with experience, but if you really want to hone your car-control skills a day at a skid pan is more effective.
This one-day, unexamined course is 'skid pan' training for project managers. We set out a framework for systematic, rigorous risk management aligned with the 'Project Risk Analysis and Management Guide' published by the Association for Project Management. We then provide participants with the opportunity to explore the practical application of this framework and to hone their skills in the context of an extended 'risk game'.
Target audience
The training is intended for:
- Anyone currently managing a project, shortly about to manage a project or taking a significant leadership role on a project
- Anyone who will have to assess the risk management on a project
To benefit fully from the course, a participant should have some 'battle experience', that is, have worked on an engineering project that deviated significantly from plan. It would also help to have had experience of dealing with clients. Project management experience is not a pre-requisite.
Outcomes
At the end of the course, a participant should:
- Have an understanding of the sort of risks which afflict engineering projects and appreciate those which most frequently affect projects in their own organisation
- Appreciate the broad range of actions which can be taken to forestall risks or to mitigate their effects
- Understand good practice in managing project risks and opportunities
- Be able to assess how well their or someone else's project is doing this management
- Be able to suggest practical improvements to a project's risk management
- Be equipped to improve the way they personally manage project risks and opportunities
The course can also contribute at the organisation-level to a shared technical culture in the area of risk management
Syllabus
Identify
- There are a lot of ways that projects can go wrong - an introduction to the risk check list
- Looking for risks can be an uncomfortable process - don't let that put you off
- Risk identification should be a frame of mind
- The fault myth - It would not be my fault so it can't hurt me - and the contract myth - The contract says that it is someone else's risk, so it can't hurt me - Both untrue!
Assess
- Opportunities and threats
- The risk lifecycle - 'maturing' risks
- Three dimensions: impact, probability and time
- Quantitative and qualitative assessment: a simple assessment matrix
- Don't ignore high-impact, low-probability risks or risks that are hard to quantify
- Good risk assessment helps you identify and justify an effective risk mitigation process and helps the business understand how it is doing
- But the process is at least as important as the output
Plan Responses
- Look hard - there are probably more measures available to you than you think
- General-purpose strategies (options, reconnaissance)
- Fall-back planning
- Waiting and seeing is often the right thing to do
Implement Responses
- Prioritise the important, the urgent and the easy
- Don't put off actions because they are uncomfortable
- Ask for help if you need it
- Risk control and scope creep - keeping a balanced view
Monitor
- Beware 'boiling frogs' - risks that get gradually worse
- Graphs are good
- Keep challenging your view of risk
- Closing risks and reacting to maturing risks
Managing Stakeholders
- Negotiate a risk budget at the outset
- Avoid surprises - very unexpected good news can upset things as well as bad news
- Report bad news early, but with a recovery plan
- Understanding what your customer really wants leaves you much better positioned to react to events
- Reconnaissance is never wasted
- Respond assertively (not aggressively) and promptly to scope creep
Exploiting Opportunities
- There may be fewer of them but they are a lifeline