Sometimes Stuff Just Happens ... and Sometimes it Doesn't...

 

The blizzard warnings for Salt Lake and Utah Counties were all over the radio and television yesterday. The stories of a huge cold front followed by sub-freezing temperatures reminded me of the five-hour commute home I was stuck in about three years ago. I left work a little early, fired up the home office to continue working on the project or two I was in the middle of before I left, figured I'd be working from home today, and patiently waited for the blizzard to hit.

It wasn't what I expected. Yes, it was a little colder than usual for a November storm. Yes, it was very windy. And yes, it snowed in Salt Lake County where I live ... but it wasn't really much more than a typical snowstorm I drive to work in every winter. In fact, when I pulled into the parking lot in Orem, there wasn't much more than a skiff of snow on the ground (and I really had to look for that).

I've been involved in projects that were like this too.

Managing risk is an important part of managing projects. Although I'm not an "expect the worse case scenario" sort of guy, it's important to go into a new project aware of the potential problems and have some kind of plan to mitigate damages should they happen. Like yesterday's "blizzard," I was prepared for the worst, but when I woke up the world hadn't come crashing to an end and I jumped in the Jeep and drove to work. I guess sometimes stuff doesn't happen.

Experienced project leaders plan for problems and breath a sigh of relief when the blizzard doesn't hit.