#18 – IN SEARCH OF RISK! – FRANK HARRIS

Frank HarrisRisk is defined as always in the future and is an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has an effect on at least one project objective (usually in the area of scope, budget, or schedule).

As a project manager or a stakeholder on a company endeavor, risk is the one thing you must search and destroy as soon as possible and maintain that attitude throughout the project life cycle as the consequences of not understanding these risks can certainly doom all good intentions on any project. Continue reading

#19 – QUALITY EXECUTIVES SHOULD BE ABLE TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS- GREG HUTCHINS

Greg Hutchins pixIn our last issue, we posed the following questions that we believe each quality executive should be able to answer about risk.  The questions are:

  • What does operational materiality mean to you?
  • What is your organization’s risk appetite?
  • What type of risk assurance do you require?
  • To whom are risks reported? Continue reading

#19 – SOFTWARE IS RISKY BUSINESS – LINDA WESTFALL

Linda Westfall HeadshotThere are many risks involved in creating high quality software on time and within budget.  With ever-increasing software complexity, increasing demands for bigger and better products, and even decreasing time to market, the software industry is a high-risk business.

When software teams don’t manage these risks, they leave their projects vulnerable to factors that can cause major rework, major cost or schedule over-runs, delivered product that don’t match their intended use requirements (for example, product that have safety, security, usability or functionality gap) or other project failures.  Continue reading

#18 – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT RISK APPETITE AND RISK THRESHOLD – MARK MOORE

Mark MooreWe deal with appetites and thresholds every day, both personally and professionally.  Project risk management is no exception and knowing your appetite and threshold may save your project a lot of grief.

When managing project risks (or any risks for that matter), I’ve found that there are always two versions of appetite and threshold.  The first is what I’ll call the “perceived” level and the second is the “actual” level.  This may sound like splitting hairs, but I’ve found multiple times on projects that they both do exist and always come into play at some point.

Continue reading