Project Management Guide - Identifying Risk

Identifying risks can be a tricky business. But there are a few things you can do to make it more successful. The first thing we need to do is look at what we are actually trying to find. We are trying to figure out what things could happen that will effect the project in a bad way.

So what would be a bad effect on the project? Well, traditionally we are trying to protect three main areas in a project: time - how long it takes us to complete the project; cost - how much it costs us, in terms of money and resources; and scope - what the final output will actually do. In addition, the quality of the final output can be effected.

By keeping these four areas in mind, we can start to identify what some of the risks could be.

1. What could happen that will affect how much time we have?
* Could the launch date be moved forward?
* Could poor weather conditions delay external work?
2. What could happen that will affect how much money we have, or can spend?
* Could the project budget be cut in a lean time?
* Could our suppliers put their prices up significantly?
3. What could happen that will affect the scope of the project?
* Could a competitor put out a product which covers something we don't, meaning we need to expand scope?
* Could part of the project be more complicated than expected?
4. What could happen that will affect the quality of the output?
* Could a component from a supplier not meet our requirements?
* Could we run out of time for removing bugs from code?

By identifying the things that could happen that will affect us, we can not only identify them as risks, but also identify the drivers behind them - what will cause these risks to occur? In that way, we can start to make sure we head the risks off early, and hopefully make sure they don't occur.

Trevor Roberts is a project manager who runs his own project management consultancy, working with business and government to help deliver successful projects. He is passionate about project management and its importance in helping organisations achieve success. He is continually learning more, and passing on what he has already learned to others through his blog http://www.ProjectManagementGuide.org where he aims to help you learn more about project management. You can follow Trevor on Twitter at http://twitter.com/trev_roberts

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