Having managed small/simple and large/complex projects, risk management is something that I know I have neglected on the small/simple ones in the past, but the need for it becomes apparent on the large/complex ones.
There was a discussion recently Inside pmStudent e-Learning about this.
I’ll share my thoughts, and I’d like to hear yours.
Scaling it Down
photo by Soggydan Dan Bennett via Flickr
A basic principle for me on small projects has been scaling down the important project management processes to suit the environment, not eliminating the need for the process at all. I didn’t always feel this way, but after managing larger projects my perspective changed. I now see the value in thinking about even the smallest projects in a structured way.
Sometimes distinct activities become merged on smaller projects, but I have come to the conclusion that this isn’t optimal either. I find there is a clarity of purpose and thought that comes from respecting the boundaries between discrete project management processes; a focus that yields better results and maintains the integrity of the process.
Intuition
The smaller and more simple a project, the easier it is to intuitively have a grasp on the risks involved. If your project is 2 weeks in duration, you are going to be thinking about risks while planning the project whether you want to or not. And because of the short time frame, you’ll probably be pretty good at it if you know anything about the domain and your team has done projects like this before.
The longer a project stretches out, and the more moving parts get involved, the less validity our “gut feel” has in identifying and assessing risks. That is why on a longer term project you want to do continuous risk management, making sure to identify and assess risks along the life span of the project. If a project is only a month long however, you may only do this activity once or twice and it’s not going to be a 2-hour discussion for the team. It should more likely be a 5 minute conversation.
Steps for Risk Management on Small Projects
- Ask the question “What worries you about this project or your piece of the project / what opportunities do you see” to team members….individually or in a group setting
- For a short project, pick no more than 3-5 that seem likely or would have a big impact
- Formulate these in terms of “Given [situation] there is a possibility of [event] resulting in [impact].
- Prioritize these risks, figure out who the owner is, and figure out 1) how to mitigate if possible and 2) what you might do if it happened.
- Follow up as necessary (at least weekly in your one-on-ones) with the risk owner to hold them accountable for their planned actions.
- Report status of the continuous risk management process in your project status reviews.
On a short term project, I wouldn’t spend too much time on risk management. It’s important, but should be scaled down. This could be reviewed monthly or so if the project is long enough for that. Plus on a short project I would consider the PM as the “risk board” and perhaps the technical lead and sponsor too. It’s all a matter of scale and your particular project’s environment.
What do you think? How do you manage risk effectively on small projects?
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Josh,
I totally agree that you should have a disciplined approach to Project Management, but scale it to fit the size of the project. There is no point if your project management activities costs more than the actual effort on the project itself
Cheers,
Bruce
I agree your points Bruce.
Here is place where the role of project manager is important place, he/she has to handle very smartly such a way that the project management activities cost should not exceed the actual effort on the project itself. In a smaller project, the project manager’s role for predicting some high level risks in the front end and followed by team members (selection for small projects, who has high depth knowledge is very important) actions. Because time is main constraint, so proactive members are important.
Absolutely Bruce, thanks for the comment!
The need for attention to these things does not go away on a small project, they just need to be scaled appropriately. Unfortunately, many project managers throw pieces out the window.
I think whatever size of project you're managing it should include a project risk management process. Maybe you don't necessarily mean it should be “scaled down”. How about “lightweight”?
I agree that the scale of risk assessment is based on the scope of the project. I agree with Josh and caution against eliminating the risk assessment step for smaller projects. Smaller projects can be the profit and schedule killer. The clearest example I can think of is a technology upgrade. The task may sound simple. Take an old piece of equipment out and replace it with the latest technology. These projects are never as easy as it sounds. The project labor estimate was one day. Now, it is going to take two because there is an incompatibility between old and new technology. How did this happen? Simple, the project was small and the labor estimate did not include time to research potential compatibility issues.