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Managing Risks - Identify Risks

September 10, 2008 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Risk Identification, Risk Management

Managing Risks - Identify Risks (#2 in the series Managing Risks)
By John Filicetti

There are numerous ways to identify risks. If you have a limited amount of time, the best ways to identify risks are to:

  • If you have access to a Risk Assessment list…use it.
  • Review the Project Schedule looking for:
    • Tasks for which your team has no expertise. The duration and cost estimates for these tasks are more likely to be inaccurate.
    • Duration and cost estimates that are aggressive. Ask the estimators how confident they are in their estimates, especially for critical path tasks.
    • Situations where you have a limited number of resources that can do particular tasks and where those resources are fully allocated, over allocated, or may become unavailable. A resource can become unavailable when they leave your organization or because of other commitments within the organization.
    • Tasks with several predecessors. The more dependencies a task has, the greater the likelihood of a delay.
    • Tasks with long durations or a lot of resources. The estimates for these larger tasks are more likely to be inaccurate.
  • Brainstorm and talk with the experts:
    • All of your project risks may not be apparent from analyzing the project schedule. It’s worth your time to brainstorm with key project resources and ask where they see the most risk to the project. You may be surprised at what you uncover.
    • If you have some experienced project managers available, have them review your project schedule and risk assessment.
    • Talk with people who have expertise in particular areas of the project. For example, if you’re planning to use an outside contractor, talk to people who have used that contractor or other contractors.

John F. Filicetti, PMP, MBA
John Filicetti is a Sr. Sales Engineer/PM-PMO-PPM Consultant with a great depth of experience and expertise in enterprise project management, project management methodologies, Project Portfolio Management (PPM), Project Management Offices (PMOs), Governance, process consulting, and business management. John has directed and managed project management teams, created and implemented methodologies and practices, provided project management consulting, created and directed PMOs, and created consulting and professional services in such areas as project portfolio management, Governance, business process re-engineering, network systems integration, application development, infrastructure, and complex environments. John has enjoyed many years as PMO Director for large corporations in the Seattle area and leads the PMO Roundtable discussion group and forum.

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