Author: Michael M. Bissonette

Mike is a Project Scientist at RTConfidence, Inc., a co-founder, and is its Chief Product Officer. He was one of the first users and trainers of IMS and SRA tools and has always been a corporate asset for training numerous people on Risk Management and EVM. His mastery of these subjects and techniques enabled him to excel in his career. Leaving aerospace and defense and returning many years later, he was surprised by the lack of progress in the development of project/program management tools. The need for tools that are more user-friendly, faster, and more affordable (across many industries) is why he co-founded the company.

Why Supplier Management is so important to project risk management.

Project scope performed by suppliers can very likely be the riskiest activity on the project. There is a good chance that if your organization conducts very complex, risky development projects which require a multitude of technical subject matter expertise, some key aspect of the projects’ scope will need to be out-sourced. There is a tendency… Continue reading Why Supplier Management is so important to project risk management.

Why Good Communication is so important to project risk management.

There is a very good reason why PMs need to be good communicators – communication is vital to project success, especially on the more complex projects where team performance is highly scrutinized. Previous postings discussed some of the more critical communication items already – Priorities, Assumptions, Estimating and Planning, Change Management, and Risk Management. To… Continue reading Why Good Communication is so important to project risk management.

Why Good Estimating practices are so important to project risk management.

Project management would be a lot easier if our original plans were accurate and reliable. This is relatively easy when it comes to follow-on production or deployment of a well-established repeat services. It gets progressively more difficult as the complexity and risk associated with development projects increases. In certain organizations, a top-down estimate suffices. In… Continue reading Why Good Estimating practices are so important to project risk management.

Asking the right questions.

I do not believe that good PMs should know everything. They should be experts in leading projects, and may also be experts in certain technical subject matter categories, but not in every technical subject matter category that the project team encounters difficulties in. Matrix organizations have evolved in part to take advantage of subject matter… Continue reading Asking the right questions.

When Issues arise, Resist automatically Absorbing More Risk.

I have yet to have seen an example of a violation of the six constraints rule-of-thumb – whereby a change to one project constraint (Scope, Cost, Schedule, Resources, Risk or Product Quality/Technical Performance) does not impact at least one of the others (reference: PMBOK® Guide, fifth edition, p. 6). The first action we tend to… Continue reading When Issues arise, Resist automatically Absorbing More Risk.

Priorities must be well understood.

Project plans should accurately comprehend project priorities, and these priorities should be central to any re-planning activities necessary after the project is kicked off. The most important priorities are those associated with determining project success; i.e., key product technical/quality requirements, delivery schedules, and budgets. Delineating the priority levels between these key project objectives enables the… Continue reading Priorities must be well understood.

Project Risk Management Basics under-pin the concept of Holistic Risk Management.

Whenever you are engaged in project planning you tend to follow the fundamental risk management process steps, whether you do so intentionally or in more of an ad hoc manner. You develop a plan to meet a set of objectives, and if your detailed plan is unable to satisfy all objectives you have to re-plan… Continue reading Project Risk Management Basics under-pin the concept of Holistic Risk Management.

Assumptions and Risks are interrelated, so manage both diligently.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with making an assumption that fundamentally reduces project risk… provided that all the project stakeholders are aware of it, and in agreement with it. Undocumented or ambiguous assumptions can jeopardize an otherwise good project plan. One of the most frustrating things to deal with as a key project stakeholder is… Continue reading Assumptions and Risks are interrelated, so manage both diligently.

Project Postmortems close the loop on Holistic Risk Management.

Obviously, a project postmortem will not improve the project that just ended, but it can certainly improve future projects within that organization, if conducted with integrity. Most organizations tend to want the team to wrap up the project with a retrospective assessment of what caused the good and poor outcomes. The easiest (i.e., most uncontroversial)… Continue reading Project Postmortems close the loop on Holistic Risk Management.

Parkinson’s Law versus Project Risk Management and “doing more with less”.

Parkinson’s Law 2 states that “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” So what does this imply? That we are either going to meet our commitments, are miss them – we are not likely to do better than the targets we set. This is obviously counter to “doing more with… Continue reading Parkinson’s Law versus Project Risk Management and “doing more with less”.