A blog that looks at all aspects of project and program finances from budgets, estimating and accounting to getting a pay rise and managing contracts.
Written by Elizabeth Harrin from RebelsGuideToPM.com.
The people in the project team, and the processes they use, are a risk factor to your project.
You might not have them on your risk register, but they definitely add risk.
For example: if you end up working with an inexperienced team, you’re in a more risky situation than one that’s highly skilled at the required work.
Poor processes across your organisation, or just in your team (say, people don’t apply the processes properly) can also add risk. A particular challenge, I think, is when projects are forced to use processes that can’t be appropriately tailored for the size of project. You get small projects forced to jump through governance hoops because that’s the process – even when it’s a ridiculous admin overhead. That adds risk to the project too.
Lack of people on the team is also a risk (one that is more likely than the other two to find its way to the risk register, in my view). You’re going to struggle to hit deadlines and delivery quality work if you don’t have enough people.
The risk profile of your project is hugely affected by the project team and the context in which you work. Unfortunately, you don’t always have a lot of control over those elements. You might find yourself being given project team members, instead of being able to pick the most able.
I’ve summarised this in the quick video below, which sets out three of the ways your project team and project environment can influence the risks faced by your project. Enjoy!
So true that often projects inherit resources that the organization has poorly selected or not improve over time with training.
Tamer Zeyad SadiqAssistant Cost Manager| Turner & TownsendRiyadh, Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia
Amazing post!!
PANKAJ PANDEYPROJECT PLANNING MANAGER| TATA PROJECTSMirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Nice.
Ruchir BhomiaHead Program Management| BiologicsReading, Uk Mainland, United Kingdom
Hi, I agree with the team adding risks to project. In a weak matrix organization, one such risk is change in team members without proper handover. And the surprising part is when many functional heads are not even aware of this risk or don't consider it as a risk.
Cheikh FAYE Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Expert, CEO and owner| Eurêka TechnologiesDakar, Senegal
Very nice and amazing post. Thank you so much Elizabeth for sharing.
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Good post & video Elizabeth
RAJESH K LProject Manager, PMP| Bharat Electronics, Bengaluru, IndiaBengaluru, Karnataka, India
Thanks for sharing
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Great reminders. Thanks, Elizabeth!
Yassine BelkouraProgram coordinator| Douja Promotion Groupe AddohaMohammedia, Outside U.S./Canada, Morocco
Great reminders, Elizabeth! Thanks!
Jay GoldbergManagement Consultant| SPA IncBethesda, Md, United States
Good points. I agree that for any project, not getting the right people is always a risk. It's always a good idea to make absolutely clear to the project sponsor what you, as the project manager, need to get the job done properly.
It's also a very good point that sometimes you're faced with someone insisting on processes that aren't appropriate for the project. Especially if you're working on a smaller or less complex project, you may have to prepare a case why a particular process is not applicable or appropriate, or is just not worth the price. Don't you wish some of these rules came with the clause "...except if..." or "... only if..."!
Community Champion
