We all need sometime to adapt ourselves into the new environment and work culture. While some do it easily on the other hand some need more time. Projects are something very exciting when it comes to execution but the risks involved in them may not come to you at the right time until its too late. However, you can take necessary measures to prevent it in a timely manner. Lets examine some pointers around it.
1. Objectives
Every project has a business objective to be addressed. This needs to be traced constantly. The moment you realized that your project is not meeting its projected objectives its high time to reconsider its planning. Verify the project phases immediately and ensure the deliverable are on track.
2. Estimations
The moment you realize that there is a huge difference between the estimates and actual you need to rework on the estimates. Agreed there is a reserved estimate tolerance kept aside for each project as per the engagement model. But this option has to be executed at a later stage as the lateral stages are very critical in nature.
3. Costs
This is something that has to be monitored constantly. Its always good be in profit than loss here. There are many engagement with RnR (Rewards and Risk) clauses. It has to be a constant approach to align your costs in rewards side than risks side.
4. Resources
The resources for a project needs to be chosen carefully. They not only have to be skillful but should have a right attitude. Having said that attitude sometime costs a project more that skills. You need to have a mix balance of resources within your team so that you could mitigate the risk of dependency easily. The moment you feel that resource is not a good fit to your project try seeking a replacement from the resource management team.
5. Planning and Analysis Approach
This approach even though finalized, approved and freezed needs a constant control. This needs a timely review time to time as risk arising out of this would affect your project badly.
6. Assumptions
This is the mother of all mistakes. Its easy to say nothing to be assumed but in real practice there are some areas within a project which has no other choice left then assumptions. Try carefully assuming things with perfect homework along with collaboration with various stakeholders and consultants.
7. Dependencies
Try not to keep this at very first place. If no options work out constantly monitor for the mitigating opportunities. Do not put the project on the shoulders of one person. If this happens you are at the mercy of that person. Harness the knowledge sharing model opportunities where all the resources are on the same page.
8. Schedules
They are easy to decide but hard to follow. Most often projects go off schedule to earlier highlighted points but this could be mitigated with realistic estimates and timely progress. Keep track of it.
9. Risk Mitigation Techniques
All projects have a risk management KRAs set. Try doing risk evaluation at the end of the week to keep the project on track. Do not hesitate to highlight the ignoring risks timely. This ignorance might cost you and your organization a heavy penalty.
10. Methodologies
With so many evolving processes ready to be adopted its very important to choose the right methodology for your project as per the needs. With Agile, Dev Ops being extremely popular be careful in defining its adoption to your project. One needs to be very careful in selecting the right technology as some may seem easy to adapt and implement but at a later stage its goes hard to derive a business outcome from them.
These pointers are not only for project management team but for every stakeholders involved in execution of the project. Feel free to communicate the risk in a timely manner to avoid unnecessary risks.
Happy Reading!