Category Archives: Life@Risk™ –

#28 – OBAMACARE VERSUS GOVERNMENT DISRUPTIONS – A RISK ANALYSIS – CAPERS JONES

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Capers Jones pixINTRODUCTION
For almost two weeks the country (the United States) and the press have been mesmerized by the partial shut down of the Federal government and by the threat that the U.S. will default on its financial obligations due to failure to raise the debt limit.

These problems are due to conflicts between the Republicans and the Democrats on spending versus taxes, and more recently on the pros and cons of the Affordable Health Care act commonly known as ‘Obamacare.’

Both Obamacare and the government shut down have risks associated with them.  From the external viewpoint of an independent voter whose work involves risk analysis, neither side appears to have done a careful examination of any of the risks from either Obamacare itself or from the shutdown of the government. Continue reading →

#20 – RISKS OF THE “UNICORN HUNT” – MARK MOORE

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IMark Mooref you’ve read any of my other pieces, you know I’m an advocate for defining and managing risk (and opportunity) on projects and in organizations.  And you know by “managing” I mean the active, vigilant monitoring of what is going on vs. what you may have anticipated.  It makes sound business sense and it ends up saving you, your teams, and your management a whole lot of headaches later. Continue reading →

#19 – QUALITY AND RISK IN THE COCKPIT – J ARMANDO JERONYMO

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J Armondo JeronymoIntegration of risk and quality management is loved by some and hated by others. For most of us, it may be a matter of judgment whether and how much a system should or is able to be managed out of silos and of departmental boxes. Another part of life that different people loves or hates is flying. I love it. Continue reading →

#19 – GROUP THINK AND UNIDENTIFIED RISKS – MARK MOORE

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Mark MooreThere is a risk on your project few of you have documented.  It’s a big problem in any organization when it happens, and it happens all too often.  It’s known as “groupthink” and Wikipedia defines it as:

“A psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an incorrect or deviant decision-making outcome. Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative ideas or viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside influences.” Continue reading →

#16 – RISK/OPPORTUNITY BALANCE – LINDA WESTFALL

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Linda Westfall HeadshotFUTURE THINKING
The future seems to be coming at us at an ever-increasing rate.  As effective managers and practitioners, we must think proactively about all the possibilities that the future may bring, but those possibilities have uncertain outcomes.  We call those possibilities opportunities if we believe they will have positive outcomes.  For example, we have the opportunity to successfully complete a project and make a substantial profit or we have an opportunity to introduce a new product into the marketplace first and capture the lion’s share of that market.  We call those possibilities risks if we believe they will have negative outcomes.  For example, we have the risk of not successfully completing that same project and losing our investment or we may have the risk of our competition beating us to the marketplace with a new product and losing market share. To quote Tom DeMarco, “Moving aggressively after opportunity means running toward rather than away from risk.” Continue reading →