Peter RapinSubject Matter Expect; Project Delivery| Independent ConsultantOntario, Canada
This is what one would consider a known-unknown from a risk management perspective. Used to be called 'act-of-god'. Your risk management plan register should have a line item for this and your project plans (cost, time, quality, resource, etc) should have addressed it in general terms.
More specifically you have to look at the individual impacts on each project element (micro-impacts) as well as the overall effects (macro-impacts). Yes, there will be negative impacts but your job as a project manager is to mitigate (make the best of it) and advise up the line.
This can become a massive effort on the risk management side not only to identify the potential impacts but also quickly develop mitigating measures and costing it all out for both time and money. Saving Changes...
Anton OosthuizenSenior Business Analyst / Project Manager| Self EmployedPretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
I agree with Peter that this should be part of your risk register but I must add that while we mostly have this listed with mitigation actions we seldom have the means to enable it instantly. It is always added as a matter of fact with no real consideration of the impact because the likelihood of it happening is very low.
The type of project would dictate your mitigation. The impact on software development projects is the lowest and most companies implement a work from home policy. Even scrum teams can continue working and have ceremonies via video conference. This is what the company I consulting at is doing.
Other projects such as construction will be much heavier hit and the chances of delayed deliverables are much higher. Working from home policies would not really be an effective mitigating action and you would probably have to focus on replanning/rebaselining.
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1 reply by Poorvi Arora
Mar 17, 2020 9:33 AM
Poorvi Arora
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IT companies may survive this because of work from home provision for a shorter duration but other industries where in-persons are required to do the job will be highly impacted.
Will some of those industries may have an impact on IT industry?
IT companies support other industries - the banking sector, healthcare sector, automobile, etc. Technically if these industries will not able to perform well then the impact will be spilled over to IT as well ?
Saving Changes...
Poorvi AroraEngagement Manager| DoItLeanPune, Maharashtra, India
Mar 17, 2020 2:54 AM
Replying to Anton Oosthuizen
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I agree with Peter that this should be part of your risk register but I must add that while we mostly have this listed with mitigation actions we seldom have the means to enable it instantly. It is always added as a matter of fact with no real consideration of the impact because the likelihood of it happening is very low.
The type of project would dictate your mitigation. The impact on software development projects is the lowest and most companies implement a work from home policy. Even scrum teams can continue working and have ceremonies via video conference. This is what the company I consulting at is doing.
Other projects such as construction will be much heavier hit and the chances of delayed deliverables are much higher. Working from home policies would not really be an effective mitigating action and you would probably have to focus on replanning/rebaselining.
IT companies may survive this because of work from home provision for a shorter duration but other industries where in-persons are required to do the job will be highly impacted.
Will some of those industries may have an impact on IT industry?
IT companies support other industries - the banking sector, healthcare sector, automobile, etc. Technically if these industries will not able to perform well then the impact will be spilled over to IT as well ? Saving Changes...
Peter RapinSubject Matter Expect; Project Delivery| Independent ConsultantOntario, Canada
I agree that the risk of occurrence is pretty low and that most projects would not define specific mitigation measures for a pandemic. However, the risk management plan should include for a response plan for unexpected events. You may not have a specific response but you need a strategy or process to respond to any eventuality.
1) convene the risk team and barnstorm over possible impacts
2) report up the line - client, stakeholders - providing preliminary general plan to respond - if anything give them comfort that the threat has been identified and the team is developing a specific response
3) Look at the impact on each project management element, assign specific staff to analyze extent of impact and develop specific mitigation measures.
4) Develop the cost of possible impacts (time and money) and benefit of mitigation.
5) Keep the client/stakeholders informed - arrange for point-of-contact to avoid confusion
Essentially, when the unknown happens the risk management team has to kick in and re-evaluate.
The last thing you want to do is throw your hands in the air - "what do we do now" - and expect someone else to step in. As PM its your job to advance the project as effectively as possible. Saving Changes...
Billy TwalaCEO| IKAMVA Strategic InsightsMidrand, South Africa
One of the fundamentals during a pandemic situation, e.g. the COVIT-19, is communication, communication, communication. From a project perspective, I would confer with the Project Sponsor to inquire on whether a statement of relevance is in the pipeline from the leadership in the organization. The initial statement from the leadership will set the tone for how the lower sections of the organization address/approach the pandemic environment. Following that I can then engage with the project stakeholders and discuss risk management approach and related specifics. Saving Changes...
It's very important to consider that this pandemic situation need to be controlled using calm, good communication, coordination with every stakeholder. A good risk plan with the participation of all will be a need and firstly we need to put a firewall to avoid spread of the virus through the project and operational people in the company. It's very important to consider a increment of the budget to stablish the firewall and mitigation plan which require to be negotiated with management. The risk plan need to be updated regularly with all and management.
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1 reply by Poorvi Arora
Mar 19, 2020 2:58 PM
Poorvi Arora
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I agree with your thoughts.
Saving Changes...
Poorvi AroraEngagement Manager| DoItLeanPune, Maharashtra, India
Mar 19, 2020 2:52 PM
Replying to Ernesto Olivares Mena
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It's very important to consider that this pandemic situation need to be controlled using calm, good communication, coordination with every stakeholder. A good risk plan with the participation of all will be a need and firstly we need to put a firewall to avoid spread of the virus through the project and operational people in the company. It's very important to consider a increment of the budget to stablish the firewall and mitigation plan which require to be negotiated with management. The risk plan need to be updated regularly with all and management.
I agree with your thoughts. Saving Changes...
Graeme MorganProject Manager| Digibloc IT StrategiesGrande Prairie, Alberta, Canada
The company has implemented BCP plans - work from home and procedures on working remotely have been posted internally. All travel is restricted, local response teams are in place or currently being formed and a digital app has been developed and released to track trending "hotspots" and heighten risk level awareness among employees. I am working from home and currently staying at home as much as possible. Saving Changes...
Jaydip ChakrabartiConsultant, Supplier Management, B.Eng, PG in Supply Chain, PMP, SAP Certified| Bruce Power, Largest Nuclear Power generating company in North AmericaBrampton, Ontario, Canada
All good discussions. I am more concerned about the secondary risks post cure pandemic situations from Supply chain as well as from Project Management perspective. Shortage of material, quality, layoffs, D&B reports, financial crisis, shortage of labor, you name it. Some known unknowns may be mitigated and risk response may be adequate based on the reserves, size of the company and possible financial aid however, the biggest concern post cure season may be unknown unknown like companies going chapter 11 and other abrupt failures.
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1 reply by Poorvi Arora
Mar 19, 2020 9:03 PM
Poorvi Arora
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Developed countries can still put financial aid in the system but what about developing countries? How are they going to respond to the economic crash?
In addition to some excellent points made above, I will add a bit of what I have witnessed.
I think there are 2 categories of risk management in this situation: Physical controls and how people do their jobs. The handling strategies range the spectrum from acceptance, mitigation, and avoidance, but not transferal.
Physical controls include things like sending people home, and keeping people out of possibly infected areas until they can be ensured safe, such as heavy cleaning in exposed areas. Risk mitigation steps here have increased over time. Now access to our office or factory buildings is extremely limited to prevent spread and almost everyone is home. Directly related to PM, this reduces the likelihood that our team will lose more people as time goes by.
As for how we do our jobs, we are allowing people to set up better home offices by letting them take things like monitors and keyboards home with them, so that laptops are not a limiting factor. We are trying to meet with people virtually and keep in communication as much as possible. Very importantly, we are trying to be emotionally intelligent. People are trying to work with kids in the room and their spouse trying to work beside them. Some things are just shut down and we must plan around them, or plan to wait. The situation is changing rapidly, so as PMs we must be resilient as one thing after the next breaks in the value chain.
In my own personal situation, I am impressed by the professionalism of everyone I work with. Even on international projects, people in areas less affected and in the office, accept that other areas are seeing significant disruption, at no fault of their own. That is important as working together relationships make an immense difference in team effectiveness during times like this. Saving Changes...
