Management of risks is key to project success
Peter Storer
Experienced C-Level Director (CTO/CIO) | IT Director | Fractional | Management Consultancy | NED | SME Mentor | Specialist n Process improvement and Efficiencies | Project Management advice and delivery | 07912 985207
Planning for Success
Proactive management of risks with projects can save project managers time, as well as money. It can also give them a much greater rate of success with a project, because if an issue does occur, if not planned for, it can quickly drain resources and money. Issues that come up can also be the catalyst that will grind a project to a complete halt if it is something big enough to do so. That is why close monitoring of projects is important, and planning for success, with mitigation plans, is really vital.
Risk management plans are part of what makes a project a success, and they often look at the external and internal risks. Any relatively low-risk events will usually have very little impact on budget and time. Any moderate risks can cause some extra costs, as well as a disruption to the project timeline. High-risk problems are the ones that are going to cost a lot to repair and can cause some big problems with performance or the schedule.
Being Proactive, Not Reactive
A project manager should create a risk log at the start of a project. Things come along and this is not always maintained, as the task in hand is being dealt with. However, the risk log is something that needs to be looked at and reviewed through the project, to make sure that the risks that have been planned for, haven’t changed or aren’t too close to actually happening.
Being proactive, rather than reactive, by having a risk management plan will allow you to be proactive, and mean that you can take steps to mitigate any possible harm. With contingency plans, these can be drawn out and looked at, should the need arise. This can help to reduce the downtime of a particular project and help to keep things on track with budget.
Maximize Results
When you plan and have risk management processes in place, you are going to make success more likely for your business, helping you to finish on time. When you don’t have this kind of risk management strategies, then your project can get exposed to a number of problems and be more vulnerable. Planning for risks and managing them, allows your business to be able to maximise the profits, as well as minimise expenses. Managing risks through some detailed analysis means that work can be prioritised, helping the project overall to get the desired results.