Manage Your Project Risk Profile

With every project I look at, when doing in-depth health checks, I find a Risk Register - comprehensive, active and, often, nearly useless.

I've found that Project Risk Management processes can themselves be a RISK to your PROJECT!

If it is, and this is not uncommon, then you’re exposed. Your project may implode, stagger to completion or explode in time and costs due to unforeseen or unmanaged risks.

Then everyone will look to you and ask, “Why didn’t you see it coming?”

Why indeed? Everyone talks risks, but…

Risk management is a ‘given’ on all projects, but is frequently either overdone or underdone and is rarely correctly focused or complete.

This leaves you exposed - personally.

I’ve been in this game for over 35 years. I’ve seen it all. In recent years I’ve specialised in reviewing projects and identifying what went wrong. (To learn more about my background click here.)

Here’s just some of what I’ve seen.

Projects with more than 300 risks listed, most of which are irrelevant to the project, but are there ‘in case’, so that no one can be blamed for missing any. But this number of risks is too many and cannot be managed effectively. So, despite the high number of risks identified, you’re still exposed.

Alternatively, projects with less than 10 risks listed. Ridiculous.

Projects missing some of the most obvious and telling risks that will destroy their projects one way or another. These are the most common.

When you’re managing or governing a project, the last thing you want is to be at risk yourself - especially from your project’s risk management process!

You need to feel in control, confident and on top of your project - but most risk management approaches leave you dangling …

What’s wrong with how projects manage risks today?

Most risk management processes are not in fact ‘processes’ - in practice …

They miss obvious risks - like, “Do we know our requirements?” Surprising but true.

They miss dynamic risks that change during the project and are often the greatest threat - such as competency risks.

They miss risks external to the project that can make the project irrelevant or even destroy it - such as changes to the organizational structure that abolish or make irrelevant the project’s recipient department. Not an uncommon occurrence!

They don’t generate overall risk profiles which can be objectively measured effectively over time (to ensure the trend is in the right direction) and be compared objectively across projects - allowing you to manage the risk profile of your portfolio of projects

They don’t lead to effective risk management at either the project or the governance levels.

All of this is both unsatisfactory and unnecessary.

For more examples of what is missing from today’s project risk approaches click here.

My goal is to ensure you’re never blindsided by project delivery risks - that the chance of your project going ‘belly-up’ is minimal.

Over my past 35 years working in and with projects, I’ve taken a long hard look at what really goes wrong on projects to develop an eight-dimensional risk model for projects. This ensures all of the different types of risks are covered and your personal risk exposure level is also covered.

These eight dimensions are discussed in our "Understanding Project Risks" Guide available from

Manageyourprojectriskprofile.com focuses on risk categories 2, 3 and 4 - project and benefits delivery risks and business risks.

How to manage your project specific risks (risk category 1) - is covered at manageyourprojectspecificrisks.com)

Our “How to Manage Your Project’s… Risks” Guides take a business approach to project risk management and provide two updateable risk profiles

one that focuses on the risks to the successful delivery of the project and its benefits (Delivery risks),

and one that focuses on the risks of the project to the business (Business risks).

These two profiles can be updated throughout the duration of the project so you can monitor your project’s (and portfolio’s) risk profiles’ trends over time.

Because these two risk profiles are based on a common set of risks, the relative risk profile of your own and other projects can be compared (for project selection and portfolio management).

Our approach to Risk Management is different

Our Guides focus on both ‘Environmental’ and ‘Systemic’ risks.

There are some aspects of a project that are risk drivers (such as the cost of failure risk) that can only be mitigated by changing the nature of the project. However, the degree of, for example, the cost of failure risk can impact the relative criticality of the other risks.

I therefore have created the concept of “Environmental” risks that determine the relativity of the whole risk profile. These Environmental risks are assessed and used these to compute the overall risk profile. A moderate-to-high risk project with a low cost of failure risk is a different proposition to a moderate-to-high risk profile with a high cost of failure risk.

“Systemic” risks are present in almost every project, the only question is the level of exposure. I have identified 14 key systemic project delivery risks and 28 key business impact risks that provide a solid basis for determining and communicating your project’s risk profile.

Each Systemic risk has four pre-defined risk levels. To generate the Profile you agree the most appropriate current and target risk levels. This then allows you to plan your risk management strategy to get from the current to the target risk level.

This approach also introduces one of our key risk management dimensions - the need for planned, measurable ‘risk end states’ whose realization can be tracked and monitored. This avoids, for example, the common occurrence of risk management strategies and plans that don’t actually address the underlying risk! Every risk has a target end state and requires a plan to achieve it.

The resultant “Risk Profiles” (one for project and benefits delivery and one for business risks) are computed from your risk assessments. These Profiles can be updated quarterly to show how the risk profile is (hopefully) diminishing, and can be used to compare project’s at the approval and portfolio management levels.

Suddenly everyone can see the level of project risk being undertaken and take action to manage it as appropriate. This removes the onus of risk management from being wholly on the project team - the PMO and governance teams also now have an active role.

To help you be successful and reduce the threat of project delivery risks to your project, I’ve produced three key Guides (and supporting workbooks and spreadsheets)

Understanding Project Delivery Risks
a quick, focused explanation of the dimensions and characteristics of project delivery risks and their management. An essential primer for all involved in the project (especially those not well versed in project delivery management).

How to Manage Your Project’s Delivery Risks
that takes you through the systemic project delivery risks categorisation and management planning processes, including producing a comparable and updateable delivery risk profile.

These risks threaten your ability to deliver the project and/or its associated benefits. They threaten the very raison d’etre of your project.

If your project delivery risks are too high at the outset you can either change the project to reduce them or cull the project before you waste too much money on its execution.

This Project Delivery Risk Essential Guide is supported by a Project Delivery Assessment Workshop Guide which spells out the nature of each systemic Project Delivery Risk and provides the four-level risk options for selection. Each member of the Risk Identification Workshop needs a copy of this Participant Guide.

How to Manage Your Project’s Business Risks
that takes you through the systemic business risks categorisation and management planning processes, including generating a comparable and updateable business risk profile.

These risks threaten your business, its customers, suppliers, partners, operations and other projects and initiatives. They threaten your organization’s ability to be successful both during and after the project’s completion.

If your project’s Business Risks are too high at the outset you can either change the project to reduce them or cull the project before it does untold damage to your business.

This Project Business Risk Essential Guide is supported by a Business Risks Assessment Workshop Guide which spells out the nature of each systemic Business Risk and provides the four-level risk options for selection. Each member of the Risk Identification Workshop needs a copy of this Participant Guide.

In addition,
through this website, you have FREE access to Excel Spreadsheets that automate the computation of the risks and generate the profiles.

The Importance of Risk Management to the Governance Team

Risk is a key area for Sponsors or Steering Committee Members to focus on. But it is more than an area to be ‘monitored’, the Governance Team has an active role to perform that can make or break your project.

Where are you focused?

If you’re interested in any of the following:

reducing the risk management workload on your projects

reducing the likelihood of projects failing

increasing the visibility and certainty of your project portfolio’s risks

culling ‘cannot deliver’ projects at the outset

aligning all levels of management to increase risk management effectiveness

then you need our “Understanding Project Delivery Risks”, “How to Manage Your Project;s Delivery Risks” and “How to Manage your Project’s Business Risks” Essential and Participant Guides - order now.

These Guides enhance both business and project performance.

Our risk management approaches allow you to protect your project and enhance business and project performance in seven ways:

It allows you to stop failure-prone projects before they begin saving money and focusing resources on the projects most likely to succeed.

1. Our Profiles identify at the outset ‘commit or cull’ projects - projects whose (high) risk profile indicates it will fail unless extra business commitment is provided and sustained. No commitment, no project.

2. Our Guides, through standard systemic risk assessments. rate the most common drivers of project failure to highlight ‘born to fail’ projects.

It makes risk management simpler and part of the mainstream project delivery process

3. Our Risk approach simplifies the risk identification process through the provision of generic risk categories and risk levels to ensure both completeness and comparability.

4. Our Risk Management approach builds the management of risks into the mainstream project delivery and control processes, rather than leaving them as a separate activity stream

5. Simplifies risk reporting at all levels

6. Our approach clarifies the respective risk accountabilities of the Governance Committee, PMO, Project Management Team and staff.

It extends project risk management into the business rather than treating the project in isolation from the business impacts the solution will have.

7. Assessing the project’s impact on multiple dimensions of business-as-usual (beyond the implementation disruption period) allowing the often-missed business risks to be appropriately managed

Each Guide will pay for itself on the
first major project through
less unplanned risk workload,
less risk-related problems and
improved, streamlined risk management.

Over time this value will increase
exponentially as high risk projects are either
culled or recognised for what they are and
managed appropriately
at all levels of the organization.

Even if your organization uses a different approach to identifying and classifying risk to that discussed in our Guides, they will still give you the knowledge you need to be sure you’re in control and not exposed personally.

In 2004 our Business Project Delivery Risk Management Program was selected as one of Australia’s Outstanding Product Innovations! (It was already six years old by then)

If you’re still undecided whether our Guides will help you, click here to download the contents lists of the three Guides to see what they cover and the value and security they will provide you.

Guarantee

This is a wholly no risk purchase. (Which is appropriate for Risk Management Guides!)

You can order your Guides risk-free.

My unconditional guarantee is, that if you are not fully satisfied with any of your Project Delivery Risk Management Guides simply return them to us and I’ll happily refund your order costs in full.

We haven’t been in business since 1994 without providing recognised value to our clients. And our client list reads like a who’s who of the top Australian companies.

I want to ensure you too are fully satisfied with the value you’ve received. So, if you’re not satisfied, return your Guide and I’ll refund your money.

However, you should act now.

The current prices are an Internet ‘introductory offer’ to generate a number of sales as soon as possible. Once we’ve reached our initial sales quota the price will increase.

Being one of the first to order not only gives you a lower price, but also ensures your projects’ (and your own) risks are managed more effectively earlier - a double benefit that you can ensure by ordering here (all products are available as digital downloads).

Understanding Project Risks		US$29.95 More information
How to Manage Your Project's Delivery Risks		US$49.95 More information
Delivery Risks Assessment Workshop Guide		US$9.50 More information
How to Manage your Project’s Business Risks		US$49.95 More information
Business Risks Assessment Workshop Guide		US$9.50 More information

You will be redirected to www.valuedeliverymanagement.com for more information about the guides and how to purchase them

Download Risk Profile Spreadsheets for FREE!!!

Business Risk Profile - Click here to download
Delivery Risk Profile - Click here to download

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