Glen Alleman left a comment recommending several resources for me, one of which is the book “Effective Opportunity Management for Projects“. I am reading it now and would like to share some of my initial insights thus far.
I’ve found the authors agree with me that standard risk management approaches mostly pay lip service to opportunity management without really addressing it. In correlation (not necessarily causation) with that, most project managers and teams focus on threats as the primary target of risk management.
I’ve also revised my view of needing a seperate knowledge area for opportunity management. Through the various articles, websites, and books I’ve reviewed thus far I believe it should be handled within risk management; but risk management approaches and project managers need to do more than just pay opportunity management the lip service they do today.
A citation from the book which states my view nicely:
“….both can be handled by the same process, although some modifications may be required to the standard risk management approach to enable it to deal effectively with opportunities.”
Another important insight is that opportunities are not merely the mirror-image of threats. A chance that a threat will not occur is NOT an opportunity.
“Distinctive opportunities exist in their own right, presenting the chance to enhance project objectives, deliver early, cost less, increase customer satisfaction, improve competitiveness, enhance company reputation, etc.”
Thanks for tagging along with me on my journey through better understanding opportunity management. More to come!
Opportunity Management
- The Need for a New Knowledge Area
- The Case for Opportunity Management
- Effective Opportunity Management for Projects
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Dr. Hillson has done a great job with this book, his speeches, and his tireless advocacy to open people’s eyes to opportunities as well as threats. I also highly recommend this book.
I know some people disagree with the idea that the term “risk” should include “opportunities” and “threats”. Whether or not you agree with Dr. Hillson on that one issue, I think you will find his thoughts to be very useful. Few people have focused on this issue — how to manage and capture positive opportunities on projects.
Interestingly, senior managers and strategists think incessantly about opportunities. They do scenario planning and think of the positive and the negative possible outcomes. If you want to explore these ideas further, the strategic planners have a much more balanced view of these issues than most project managers. For them uncertainty is a way of life, and it creates competitive advantage sometimes.
–Alex
http://www.alexsbrown.com
Dr. Hillson has done a great job with this book, his speeches, and his tireless advocacy to open people’s eyes to opportunities as well as threats. I also highly recommend this book.
I know some people disagree with the idea that the term “risk” should include “opportunities” and “threats”. Whether or not you agree with Dr. Hillson on that one issue, I think you will find his thoughts to be very useful. Few people have focused on this issue — how to manage and capture positive opportunities on projects.
Interestingly, senior managers and strategists think incessantly about opportunities. They do scenario planning and think of the positive and the negative possible outcomes. If you want to explore these ideas further, the strategic planners have a much more balanced view of these issues than most project managers. For them uncertainty is a way of life, and it creates competitive advantage sometimes.
–Alex
http://www.alexsbrown.com
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