Project Risk Management - The Big Picture

by George Purdy

Proper project risk management planning is absolutely essential for all businesses. Risk management applies to virtually any type of business. It is a large part of information technology management, since even with intelligent software, unexpected events can happen. Luckily, modern project management technology includes relevant tools for risk assessment and improved planning.

Project risk managers must review and assess each event and consider the probability of it causing negative risks and the consequences of these risks. Any event that is deemed extremely likely to occur but will not result in a significant consequence, is not considered a risk.

One of the most important tenets of project risk management is recognizing that a risk without profit potential is not worth it. You must assess the probabilities and balance the risk versus the benefit. You will need to judge the gain to your project against the negative impact that the risk can bring to you.

The theory of vaccination is a good parallel to this. A very small percentage of those who receive inoculations will have bad reactions and can in extreme circumstances lead to death. Conversely, with no vaccination, the disease can cause high rates of morbidity and mortality, so the benefit of providing vaccinations far outweighs the risks of not vaccinating.

The issues may not be that easy to decide in project risk management, however. If part of a project is incompletely or poorly described in scope or details, risks are difficult to evaluate. Many areas of risk are partially or entirely out of a manager’s control, such as delayed or nonperforming external vendors; these outside factors can imperil an entire project.

Risk in the business world is the name of the game. Personnel issues are a risk. Lack of familiarity with processes and technology creates lots of risks because no one can predict what will happen. Failure to maintain adequate communication with a customer is a risk, but an avoidable one. Keep in mind that even if the project is going well on your end, if your customer doesn’t hear anything, he’s going to worry. Lack of documentation is also a big risk. If you don’t write it down, you won’t have a record to prove yourself in a critical situation.

There will be risks involved in any new venture. It doesn’t matter if you’re a project manager dealing with a huge construction project or if you’re an IT project manager designing software, there will be risks involved. The trick is to make the benefits greater than the risks you’re taking. State of the art software which finds and takes care of areas of risk as well as the manager’s own training and expertise in project risk management should be able to guarantee the project’s success.

Project risk management planning is essential for the success of any major business operation. Whether you’re building a bridge or constructing a website, risk management is necessary to avoid failure. Even software can produce major adverse effects when it doesn’t work properly. Current project management technology makes it easy to assess risks and plan intelligently. A dominant principle of the current it project management is the belief that a risk that cannot produce a profit is not worth taking. This conviction stems from simple equation of weighing the risks against the benefits.

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