Comments on: The Importance of the Risk Log http://www.pmhut.com/the-importance-of-the-risk-log Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:30:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Laura Bamberg http://www.pmhut.com/the-importance-of-the-risk-log/comment-page-1#comment-18856 Laura Bamberg Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:28:50 +0000 http://www.pmhut.com/?p=4971#comment-18856 Olga is dead-on. It's great that a PM spends the time to come up w/ the risks - but that's a waste of time if you don't actually deal w/ them! Put them in your plan. Schedule them! Olga is dead-on. It’s great that a PM spends the time to come up w/ the risks - but that’s a waste of time if you don’t actually deal w/ them! Put them in your plan. Schedule them!

]]> By: Olga Sa http://www.pmhut.com/the-importance-of-the-risk-log/comment-page-1#comment-18769 Olga Sa Sun, 14 Mar 2010 03:55:50 +0000 http://www.pmhut.com/?p=4971#comment-18769 Thank you Kerry for bringing up this subject! I am myself trying to work out the ideal framework when it comes to risk management. I have also discussed this topic with my mentor and he shared with me the process that is in place at his company, which is a risk-averse. The risk management there starts with the brainstorming from the whole team; everyone is invited to contribute to the list of possible risks. The risks are put on sticky notes and also assigned the probability and impact. For those risks with high impact and high probability, the team tries to come up with a solution to move it down on the impact/probability graph. That’s all just prep work, however, but the biggest challenge is to actually keep these risks in mind. I found that both PMI and my mentor suggest to actually put the mitigating strategy into the project plan. That helps to keep risks visible as you mentioned yourself that you always keep an eye on the plan and upcoming tasks. Ideally the rest of the risk log should also be reviewed periodically and included in the status updates. Of course sometimes there are risks that we did not foresee; those become lessons learned. In an ideal feedback loop, lessons learned also serve as a base for the risk brainstorming session of future projects. I would be interested to hear how others deal with risk management on their projects. Thank you Kerry for bringing up this subject! I am myself trying to work out the ideal framework when it comes to risk management. I have also discussed this topic with my mentor and he shared with me the process that is in place at his company, which is a risk-averse.

The risk management there starts with the brainstorming from the whole team; everyone is invited to contribute to the list of possible risks. The risks are put on sticky notes and also assigned the probability and impact. For those risks with high impact and high probability, the team tries to come up with a solution to move it down on the impact/probability graph. That’s all just prep work, however, but the biggest challenge is to actually keep these risks in mind.

I found that both PMI and my mentor suggest to actually put the mitigating strategy into the project plan. That helps to keep risks visible as you mentioned yourself that you always keep an eye on the plan and upcoming tasks. Ideally the rest of the risk log should also be reviewed periodically and included in the status updates. Of course sometimes there are risks that we did not foresee; those become lessons learned.

In an ideal feedback loop, lessons learned also serve as a base for the risk brainstorming session of future projects.

I would be interested to hear how others deal with risk management on their projects.

]]>