Few projects out there are as big and complex as the Olympic games. They're truly in a category of their own due to their massive visibility and the world scale construction projects leading up to it. It gets awarded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to the host city more than 10 years in advance of the two-week long event, and the entire decade is spent in a … [Read more...]
Sun Tzu’s "The Art of War" is a timeless masterpiece, offering strategic insights that have influenced military leaders, business executives, and strategists for centuries. Although it was written over two millennia ago, the principles laid out in this ancient text are remarkably applicable to modern project management. A project is not necessarily a "battle to be won," … [Read more...]
By now most people have heard about the disaster of the OceanGate Titan, the underwater submersible that imploded on its way down to the Titanic wreck site carrying five billionaires on a tourist mission. I'm genuinely surprised about how little the project management community is talking about this, because the lessons appear to be vast. Although the cause is not … [Read more...]
Identifying risks is a central component of project risk management. Risks are identified using various methods and placed into a risk register. The risks are then analyzed and prioritized, and appropriate risk response plans are drawn up. I would like to update this list and keep it current, so if you have anything to add please leave a note in the comments … [Read more...]
The largest projects in the world, from the summer olympics to big petrochemical projects, have one major thing in common at the project management level: A relentless focus on risk. What happens if there is a riot? Or a catastrophic explosion? What if protestors disrupt the project, or regulatory agencies reject it? These large megaprojects must allocate a small but … [Read more...]
The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines a portfolio as a collection of projects, programs, subsidiary portfolios, and operations managed as a group to achieve strategic objectives. Portfolio Management, then, is the discipline of managing this portfolio to achieve organizational goals. The components of the portfolio can be projects, programs (series of projects … [Read more...]
Project risk management is what separates good project managers from great ones. Even when everything has been planned and executed to perfection, an unexpected event can cause considerable duress on the project stakeholders and even cause the project to be considered a failure. Risk management is a three step process: Risk Identification Risk … [Read more...]
Because you can't see its results in a direct way, project risk analysis is too often sacrificed by project managers in the name of time or budget constraints. Compounding the problem is that small projects just don't seem to have the time and budget to justify the time spent on risk management. But I would argue that if risk management is a priority on … [Read more...]
The first step in a good risk management plan is the identification of risks. The other phases of project risk management are built on this foundation. It involves developing a list of the potential risks to a project, which is called a Risk Register. A good risk register might have the following six columns: Name/Description of risk … [Read more...]
Above all else a project manager is a leader, therefore developing leadership skills is one of the best ways for a project manager to further their career. To that end, one of the most important traits of a leader is the ability to react swiftly and decisively when unexpected events occur. Project risk management is the division of Project … [Read more...]
