Managing risks

Warming up questions
What are project risks?

How can a project manager/ tech lead or a team discover them?

Frequently someone on the project sees the potential risk, but doesn’t inform
about it. Is it familiar to you? How can it be solved?
 Many hats of a Manager. Choose the most important roles
and prove why.

The customer advocate

Facilitator
Dealmaker
Stand-in UX Expert
Technical skeptic
Team Leader
 Think of a project you are currently involved in at work.
Create a dialogue. Be ready to give a short verbal report on
this project which answers the following questions:

What were the objectives of the project?

Have they changed since you started?
What have you done so far?
What is happening at the moment?
What problems have there been? Have you solved them and how?
What hasn’t been done yet?
What have you got planned for after this project?
1. How do you define risk and reward?
2. How to manage risk?
3. How can you master art of risk management?
certainly identify
to frame the structure step outside of comfort zone
it’s a thrill to be capable of
to bolster reputation estimate the risk
to waste money an assessment of probability
financial incentive gain a wealth of knowledge and experience
enhance reputation to learn from mistakes
risk of failure tend to
potential risks mitigate
 Common Project Risks. What is your idea about them? How can you avoid
these risks?

1. Poor leadership

2. Staff problems

3. No continuity

4. Change to business strategy

Six step process for risk management:

1. Plan Risk Management

2. Identify Risks

3. Perform Qualitative Risk Analysis

4. Plan Risk Responses

5. Control Risks
Role-play. You’re starting a new project. Identify risks
and discuss them with your team.
Study stage: this is a fragment from PM’s speech
about the risks. Fill in with the words
mitigate, seek , eliminate, predict, track, put in place, tolerate , exposed , tackle ,

Let me just turn briefly to the important issue of risk. I think as a team we need to work very hard in this
project to eliminate any major risks which could derail the project. What I want to pilot is some risk
management, which will allow us __predict_ future problems and to __put in place__ some effective
contingency plans, which will __mitigate__ the worst potential effects. The software also allows us to
_put____ risks in an Excel template, and then we can __track___ things closely with regular focus in our
meetings. We won’t risks completely, but it means we are not _exposed___ to potentially dangerous levels
of risk. Of course, there will be cases where we simply have to risks- for cost reasons, perhaps. In such
cases, I’m aiming to _seek___ approval from the sponsor for any decision we make before we proceed
Study stage: this is a fragment from PM’s speech
about the risks. Fill in with the words

Let me just turn briefly to the important issue of risk. I think as a team we need to work very hard in this
project to seek any major risks which could derail the project. What I want to pilot is some risk
management, which will allow us mitigate future problems and to put in place some effective contingency
plans, which will tackle the worst potential effects. The software also allows us to predict risks in an Excel
template, and then we can track things closely with regular focus in our meetings. We won’t eliminate risks
completely, but it means we are not exposed to potentially dangerous levels of risk. Of course, there will
be cases where we simply have to risks- for cost reasons, perhaps. In such cases, I’m aiming to tolerate
approval from the sponsor for any decision we make before we proceed
What tools and techniques do you use as a PM?
Specific tools and techniques for identifying risk:

1. Documentation Reviews

2. Diagramming Techniques - cause and effect diagram, system and process flow chart, influence
diagrams
Intro

TOM WUJEC, a North American writer, designer and

business consultant, studies how we share and absorb
information. He’s an innovative practitioner of business
visualization - using design and technology to help groups
solve problems and understand ideas. Wujec is also
interested in the individual qualities and team-working
styles that lead to successful cooperation. In his talk, he
describes how a simple design challenge using
marshmallows can reveal surprising things about the ways
we work together. Tom Wujec’s idea worth spreading is
that successful teamwork and problem-solving require not
only specialized experience but also skillful facilitation.
Read the sentences (1-6).
The words in bold are used in the TED Talk. First guess the meaning of the words. Then match the words with their
definitions (a-f).

1 d I never work alone. Collaboration is important in my job.

2 a The team leader doesn’t tell us exactly what to do, but she provides facilitation and makes her own sugges
3 e When I saw that her name was Giovanna Abbiati. I made the assumption that she was Italian.
4 b The executive admin took detailed notes in the meeting.
5 f We don’t develop our finished product all at once. Instead, we follow an iterative process.
6 c Joe is a kindergartener, but he’s already a good reader.

a) the process of making a task happen more easily, for example by helping assign roles or select priorities
b) a person who works as an assistant to a top manager in a company
c) a child in the first year of school
d) the process of working together with other people
e) an idea or belief that people have or a thing we imagine to be true without actually having seen any proof
f) a way of developing an idea or products where things are continually changed and developed, and improved each
skillful facilitation.
skillful facilitation. Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)?
1 F Most teams build a successful tower on
their first try.
2 F Business people and kindergarteners
approach the project similarly.
3 Y Teams that use prototypes and
iterative processes are the most successful.
4 Y The addition of executive admins
makes the CEC teams more successful.
5 F When a cash prize is offered, teams
perform very well.
6 Y The marshmallow challenge can help
to identify hidden assumptions about tasks and
teamwork.
Number the steps in order.
Then watch the second part (1.01-1.43) of the talk again and check your answers.

2 They plan, organize, sketch, then lay out the spaghetti.

5 They say ta-da and admire their work.
1 Participants orient themselves to the task, talk about it, and jockey for power.
6 Ta-da turns into uh-oh as the structure collapses.
4 Someone carefully puts the marshmallow on the top.
3 They assemble the structure.
Watch the part (3.12 to the end) of the talk and complete the summary with these words.

engineers and architects, hidden assumptions, questions, executive admins, prototyping skills

Wujec says a winning team needs people with specialized skills - for example prototyping skills and people
with facilitation skills such as executive admins.
When Wujec first offered a prize of $10,000 for the tallest structure, no one even built a standing structure,
because they didn't have the right questions on the team. However, when the same group tried a second time,
they succeeded, because they had learned the importance of prototyping skills .
Wujec says every project has its own marshmallow, by which he means hidden assumptions.
In the case of the marshmallow challenge, everyone seems to assume that the marshmallow should go on
last, for example. It seems so obvious that no one engineers and architects tackle it.
1 bert, ian Which of the ideas described in the comments does Tom Wujec present in his TED Talk?
2 bert Which comment describes the main idea of Wujec’s talk?
3 Overall, do you think Wujec presents and supports his main idea well? Why? / Why not?