• Project Phases

  August 28, 2008

  
  

• Work Breakdown Structure Was Shallow - Project Management Mistake # 7

  August 27, 2008

  
  

• Project Risk Management: Benefits and Obstacles

  August 27, 2008

  
  

• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

  August 27, 2008

  
  

• Project Steering Committee Composition

  August 27, 2008

  
  

• Manage Project Risks

  August 27, 2008

  
  

• Cost Estimating in Program Management

  August 26, 2008

  
  

• SMART Requirements - Conclusion

  August 26, 2008

  
  

• 3 Main Benefits of Project Baselining

  August 26, 2008

  
  

• The Top Five Reasons Project Managers Fail

  August 26, 2008

  
  

Risk Management - Learning from the Past

July 14, 2008 | Author: admin | Filed under: Risk Management, Lessons Learned

Risk Management - Learning from the Past (#6 in the series Know Your Enemy: Software Risk Management)
By Karl E. Wiegers

While we can’t predict exactly which of the many threats to our projects might come to pass, most of us can do a better job of learning from previous experiences to avoid the same pain and suffering on future projects. As you begin to implement risk management approaches, keep records of your actions and results for future reference. Try these suggestions:

• Record the results of even informal risk assessments, to capture the thinking of the project participants.
• Document the mitigation strategies attempted for each risk you chose to confront, noting which approaches worked well and which did not pay off.
• Conduct post-project reviews to identify the unanticipated problems that arose. Should you have been able to see them coming through a better risk management approach, or would you likely have been blindsided in any case? Do you think these same problems might occur on other projects? If so, add them to your growing checklist of potential risk factors that the next project can think about.

Anything you can do to improve your ability to avoid or minimize problems on future projects will improve your company’s business success. Risk management can also reduce the chaos, frustration, and constant fire-fighting that reduces the quality of work life in so many software organizations. The risks are out there. Find them before they find you.

Adapted from “Practical Project Initiation: A Handbook with Tools” (Microsoft Press, 2007), with permission from author.

Karl Wiegers, Ph.D., is Principal Consultant with Process Impact, a software process consulting and education company in Portland, Oregon. Karl’s most recent book is “Practical Project Initiation: A Handbook with Tools.” Karl is also the author of four other books and 170 articles. Karl is a frequent speaker at software conferences and professional society meetings. You can reach Karl through www.projectinitiation.com or www.processimpact.com.

Related Articles

• Project Estimates, Why are They so Wrong? Learning from London Olympics 2012
• Who Needs Risk Management? - Part 2
• Who needs Risk Management? - Part 1
• Decision Quality and Risk Management
• Risk Management 101: Introduction to Project Risk Management

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