Risks and Issues 

Why have Risks and Issues? 

The cornerstone to successfully managing your project is maintaining on a daily basis your risk and issue log, a good comprehensive list should take away the need for to do lists and then supplement all your reporting requirements both on an internal and external basis. 

It may sound excessive to review daily, but 5 minutes a day is far better than a tortuous 2 hour session every fortnight. It can then drive your to do list for the day.

What do you show your key stakeholders? 

Nobody likes to see a long list of risks with mitigation action points, for an executive summary you should concentrate on highlighting the top 5 risks, and where possible in a graphical format, I like to use the matrix shown below, with clear indication showing where your top risks sit on the matrix. A clear statement stating how many other risks you are managing is useful to give comfort that you are actively managing the risk log.

 

How to rate your risks?

I use the above matrix  but replace the words for numbers which translates into medium = 3 so a medium probability and a medium impact would gain a risk rating of 9, this is particularly useful when you are tracking movement in the risks, it is far easier to track a risk moving from a rating of 15 to 9 rather than moving from medium/very high to medium. 

What is the difference between a risk and an issue?

To be honest it doesn't really matter as long as you have it logged and you are actively managing the item. The general rule of thumb is that a risk is something which might happen whilst an issue is something that has happened. 

You can also have duplicate entries on both your risk and issue log, something may be live and you are dealing with it today, but particularly in a large complex project, an example is around communication, there is a high likelihood that you have an issue following a communication, but with many more communications planned for you need to have them clearly marked on your risk log.

Steering Packs

What makes a good steering pack 

The steering meeting is a very important part of any project governance this is your chance as the project manager to formally get direction for your project and approval for your efforts and progress so far.  
It also allows you to align all of the stakeholders, you have many discussions and views during your project lifecycle but this is the opportunity to get everyone aligned.   
  

• Be clear in what you are asking for

Time is likely to be constrained and you will only have limited opportunity to get across what you need, so make it very clear at the start of the pack the key issues and questions that you need to ask and get agreement, if you put this later in the pack the steering group will get distracted by data and probably exhaust the available time on trivial matters rather than confronting the issues you need to address.

• Keep the information clear and concise

The best way to avoid distraction is to keep the information very clear and concise use bullet points with minimal text and try to use pictures and diagrams where possible.

• Ask what the Stakeholders want to see

You can spend hours producing a wonderful pack which you are very proud of, but then you are left doubting if anyone ever actually reads what you have produced, it is definitely not  a weakness to ask a simple question on what your stakeholders want to see in the pack, if you do get the stock answer  "everything is fine as it is", complete the review yourself and start to leave bits out, sometimes the best way to find out what people really want to see is to take something away, then they tend to shout! 

• Get it out nice and early

To give yourself a chance of getting a good productive steering meeting, is to get the pack out nice and early, there is nothing more frustrating than receiving meeting documentation 10 minutes before the meeting is about to start, one of the key benefits of getting the pack out early, is that you can get some early questions/ clarification points raised early this helps you understand the priorities of particular stakeholders and with some quick action potential conflict could be avoided. 
It is also good to get the pack out on a Friday, at the end of the week the number and pace of meetings tends to drop so even if your pack doesn't get read immediately then you stand a good chance of it going into the weekend reading pile.
    

• Show that you are managing hygiene factors

Nobody is denying that plans, budgets and RAID logs are an important part of your project framework but the executive have employed you as a competent project manager and unless you require a decision these should run in the background, include them as an appendix if they are required but you need to again ensure that you don't lose valuable steering time debating if a risk rating is correct or if a milestone should be moved forward or back a day!

• If the sponsor cant attend reschedule

Steering by default has to have the sponsor in attendance, the meeting loses all effectiveness without as the attendees start to speculate on what the sponsor may want to do! If the sponsor cant find the time for Steering or keeps cancelling either find a new sponsor or project!         
                                      

Working with your BA

The relationship between the Project Manager and a Business Analyst is one that can be complex but if works well can create a great project team and that will result in excellent project results.

Communication

It is always best in my experience to keep the BA fully up to date with the project as a whole not just on their specific piece of work, not only does it make them feel part of the project but it helps them understand some of the pressures you are under as a PM, and they may also be able to give some valuable input into the other areas of the project.


Challenge the Assumptions

The role of the PM is not just to tick off the milestones and document the deliverables but to ensure that the project delivers to the highest possible quality, on each part of analysis the project manager should act as a critical friend reviewing the analysts work and challenging their assumptions.


Clarity in Expectations

As in all aspects of management you need to be very clear in what you are expecting and keep to your agreed scope, give clear timelines and with all project planning give yourself some contingency to allow the BA deliver on time.

Existing/Contract Resources

Whilst there is some excellent contract BA's around, the best BA's I have worked with have all being long time in the organisation, they are the ones that have seen it all before, have the knowledge of the organisation and its systems and will importantly know the hidden pitfalls of delivering complex change.


Next Week- Creating the perfect Steering Pack

Starting on a new project

It is both exciting and daunting when you start on a new project in a new place, before you do dive in to your project there are three key things that you need to understand and investigate, and by taking this time it will help you as you move into setting up your project.

The Organisation

Yes, you have done your research online, maybe talked to a few people and had at least one interview, but once you are in the door you only then do you find about the organisation, just observing how people act in their day to day activities tells you a lot, do people come in early stay late, is there a buzz around the office, is there lots of social chit chat etc

Stakeholders

The same observations can be made around key stakeholders, how do they greet you on first introduction, how easy is it to get into their calendar, how long if at all do they respond to your emails, the early weeks interactions will give a very strong guide to how you will work with these individuals through your project.

Politics

At every interview you are always told they do't exist, but in every organisation they do, it is important to work out what everyone's real drivers are, who gets on with who, and who you really need to get on side to get things done, and don't be fooled its not always the sponsor.

Do something simple

When you start somewhere new you are bound to have something in your kitbag nobody has seen before, particularly if you are joining an established team/organisation, you might think it is simple and everyone knows it but it is amazing that the smallest of things can impress new colleagues.

Next Week

Working with your Business Analyst, if you don't want to miss it add your e mail address above