PM Crossword Connections™: Take a Chance: Is your project at risk? By Frank P. Saladis, PMP

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Risk Doctor: Optimism, Pessimism, Realism & Risk By Dr. David Hillson, PMP, FAPM

© Dr David Hillson PMP HonFAPM
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The former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said that “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” This exposes an interesting link between pessimism, optimism and risk attitude. One result of pessimism is an undue focus on threats which could lead someone to become risk-averse, wanting to avoid or minimise negative outcomes wherever possible, and becoming over-protective. On the other hand, optimism can produce an excessive concentration on opportunities, which can result in a risk-seeking attitude, looking for the upside in every uncertainty, and taking on too much risk exposure.

Read more: Risk Doctor: Optimism, Pessimism, Realism & Risk By Dr. David Hillson, PMP, FAPM

Positive Leadership in Project Management - Value, Success and Twelve Factors for Effective Project Leadership By Frank P. Saladis, PMP

The definition of project success depends on whom you are asking. In other words, “project success is in the eye of the beholder.” In the book, “Value Driven Project Management”, authors Dr. Harold Kerzner Ph.d and Frank P. Saladis PMP, define project success as being achieved when planned business values are met including Internal Value, Financial Value, Future Value, and Customer Related Value. (Yes, I am a co-author and I am very proud of this book.)

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How to Analyze your Stakeholders By George Bridges, MS, PMP

The word stakeholder is very popular today. In this article we address how to categorize our stakeholders in order to facilitate ongoing elicitation and communication of project information. In addition we will describe how stakeholder analysis can serve as the basis for input to our requirements communication plan.

I have outlined a series of articles to discuss the topic of stakeholder management in a project environment. As we stated in Part 1 of this series; Stakeholder Management can be described by using the following diagram (Figure 1), developed by Dr. Harold Kerzner, Senior Executive Director with International Institute for Learning, Inc:

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Consolidating Project Risks: Issues & Tips By Marc Desrumaux, PMP

Introduction:

Many projects have hundreds of work packages, with corresponding owners (W/PO) that need to be involved in the overall Project Risk Management activities. They most likely do not have access to or have an understanding ofKPI relevant for top management. What to do then when you need to involve more than 10 people in PRM?

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Embedding Project Risk Management (PRM) into Project Management Processes By Marc Desrumaux, PMP

Introduction:

Many PMs or project team members find Project Risk Management a cumbersome if not frustrating extra-effort. Most of time they do not take the pain to imagine how their staffcould perform riskidentification, qualification, etc. We advise them to have their team membersstay inside the framework of their duties. Here below are some tips & tricks.

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Complex Projects - A Contrarian Approach By Carl Belack, PMP

There has been much discussion, and a number of books and articles have been written, about “complex” projects over the past few years. There has also been some controversy around the knowledge and skills needed to manage these projects (e.g. is the scope of the PMBOK® Guide sufficient to address such complexities?). In the next few pages, we’ll look at complex projects by 1) describing how various authors/groups define what they are, and 2) examining what this all means for us as project managers in our day-to-day work environments.

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Ten Reasons to Trash your Risk Management Plan By George Bridges, MS, PMP

Do you have a Risk Management Plan (RMP)? If you do not, then this article is not for you. If you are managing a project of any size and you have not developed a Risk Management Plan, then your project is most likely already in trouble.

If your answer is yes, then you may want to continue reading this article. Many people talk about and also attempt to develop a Risk Management Plan but either give up or place the effort low priority on the to do list. Others have a risk plan that does not actually provide the guidance and value that is needed to be effective. Because the maker of the RMP did not give it the attention that it deserves, it is usually thrown together without any real in-depth research, just to say that it was done. It is like the son that was told to clean his room. When his mother checked it, the room was cleaned, but she later discovered that everything was piled high in the closet, out of site and out of mind.

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Making Assumptions is Risky Business You Know What They Say when you Assume ... By Harry Rever, PMP - Director of Six Sigma, IIL

The incredibly annoying “know it all” coworker; the boss who thinks he is right because, well, he’s the boss; or the self-important “technical expert”; what do they all have in common besides being boorish, irritating and maybe even a little condescending? They assume. They assume they know the answer or what might be causing the problem. More importantly, they make assumptions about things, such as how metrics impact one another, without verifying those assumptions are actually true. Data? Who needs data? Not me! I know what I’m doing. Well, those types of assumptions are risky; very risky as they lead to decisions and activity which might actually make things worse. A simple quality tool, the scatter plot, can help validate if well known assumptions are actually true. You know what they say when you assume, “you make an ass out of you and me.” Let’s simply avoid that problem by verifying assumptions with data. Avoid what I like to call “assumption risk.”

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