People say there are two certain things in life - death and taxes! Well, in the project world, there is a third thing that is certain - things will go wrong in your project.

It's no good relying on luck and hoping things will go according to plan, because they won't. We all must spend a little time thinking about the risks and either remove them before the project starts, or be ready with a backup if they do happen. I'm going to remind you of 2 different ways to find out the risks on your project. Don't be deceived by how simple they appear, they are very powerful and will provide you with back-up plan and a much greater chance of success in your project. Try them out.

RISK TECHNIQUE #1 - THE RISK CHECK LIST

Before you use this technique, you need to create a check list of the typical things that go wrong on your projects. Once you have created this check list, you can use it again and again for future projects.

Here is a typical list of top 10 factors that will make things go wrong on your project:

1. Unclear objectives
2. Unrealistic schedule or costs
3. Not enough resources
4. Too much change
5. High turnover of staff
6. Low support from management
7. Inexperienced staff
8. Unproven or expensive technology
9. In-company politics and career building
10. Lack of trust in others to do the work

Use this list as your starting point, but develop your own list of where things go wrong. Now you have a technique to find out what will go wrong with your project, before it starts!

RISK TECHNIQUE #2 - CHECKING THE RISK OF EACH TASK

This is a fast technique that each expert on the team can do on a weekly basis and report any changes to you as the project manager.

Ask each expert to answer the following 2 questions for each piece of work they are doing:

1. What is the possibility of the task failing?
2. What is the impact on the project if the task fails?

Use only ‘High', ‘Medium' and ‘Low' as the answers. When the combination is Medium/Medium or Medium/High (either way around), or High/High, then that is a high risk task. Ask them for ideas to reduce the possibility of the task failing in the future or for contingency actions if the task fails.

Now you have a technique that will give you an updated list of risks on a weekly basis.

A FINAL THOUGHT

I am often asked what the difference is between a risk and an issue. Well, a risk is something that could happen in the future, but an issue is a problem that you have to deal with now. If you don't carry out a risk assessment on your project, you will have plenty of issues to deal with later; something we all want to avoid.

Forewarned is forearmed!

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© 2007 Dr Sam Elbeik. All rights reserved

Dr Sam Elbeik is an accomplished international project management trainer working in industries including consumer goods, banking, pharmaceutical, IT/IS and automotive. He is also the author of 2 books, Project Skills and Supercharge your Management Role. Visit him at http://www.itcentre.com

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