The Path to the PMP (Part 11)

Following 20 years at a large Canadian telecommunications firm, Bruce established the project management consulting firm Solutions Management Inc (SMI). Since 1999, he has provided contract project/program management services, been a source for project management support personnel and created/delivered courses to over 7,000 participants in Canada, the United States and England.

  Risk Management  

When competing in a 5K race, I always have a pretty good idea how things will go. I know how I like to be in the mad herd that gathers at the starting line. I have a plan for about how long it should take me. I even know what I am going to do in the last 200 meters, when I have a chance to move up a little in the results. Then reality strikes: I couldn’t get to the front of the pack to start the race, the course is busier than I expected and I’m stuck in a tight cluster of runners and therefore can’t control my own pace. I get near the end and realize there is no way I’m going to catch that gazelle ahead of me! I wasn’t as ready as I thought.

In our work lives, we sometimes think our projects will go exactly as planned. In my 25 years of project management experience, I don’t think any have gone perfectly. Fact is, stuff happens. The Risk Management knowledge area is, in my mind, the most useful and practical knowledge area in the entire PMBOK. I always tell participants in my classes that if they think their projects will go exactly according to plan, they are naïve.

The six risk management processes are, for the most part, very logical. They start with Plan Risk Management. Inexperienced PMs often think this means getting started with identifying and managing risks. The PMI exam writers know that and set traps for those that…

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