Project Management

Please login or join to subscribe to this thread

How do you ensure that risk appetite and tolerance are clearly communicated across your teams?

linkedin twitter facebook   Agile   Ethics   Risk Management  
avatar
Stelian ROMAN Project Manager| MicroSafety Carlingford, New South Wales, Australia

The concept of an Agile Enterprise was defined in 1991 as a recognition that Lean Six Sigma would be unable to meet the demands of the 21st-century markets. A decade later, the Manifesto for Agile Software Development introduced the approach to build software applications: “uncovering new ways by doing it and helping others to do it”. Unlike the Enterprise version of Agile Manufacturing, the software version of Agile had a limited understanding of risk and risk management. Risk was perceived as a negative aspect of product development and Agile as a way to minimise or even eliminate them. Twenty-five years later, Agile teams and practices matured, and risk management had become a hot topic among Agile practitioners and enterprise leaders. Project Management professionals are curious to know how Risk Management evolved in Agile and Enterprise Agile contexts. Is the traditional risk register obsolete? How do teams handle enterprise-level risks?

In principle, according to the Agile mindset, Risk Management in Agile environments should be more continuous, visible, and integrated with delivery than in traditional, document-heavy processes. There is also growing recognition among Agile Teams that Risk Management is not just about avoiding threats, but also about surfacing and seizing opportunities. This blog post explores the unique challenges of risk management in agile enterprises and provides practical recommendations.

Blog post: Risk Management in Agile Enterprises: Evolving Practices for Modern Delivery

ProjectManagement.com - The Agile Enterprise

Sort By:
avatar
Luis Branco CEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, Ldª Carcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Excellent question.
Clearly communicating risk appetite and tolerance is important, but I'd only challenge one underlying assumption: shared understanding does not necessarily produce consistent decisions.
Teams can only act within an organization's risk appetite when decision rights, escalation paths and accountability are aligned with it.
One of the most effective safeguards is making risk appetite an operational property of governance rather than simply a documented statement.
Otherwise, teams may understand the organization's tolerance for risk while still making decisions that systematically diverge from it.
avatar
Satyananda Sahu Senior Engineering Manager| Immediate Joiner - Unemployed, Seeking Opportunity Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
To ensure that risk appetite and tolerance are clearly communicated across teams, leaders must maintain transparency in communication. They should publish the defined risk appetite and tolerance in a central location, such as a project management tool or organizational portal, accessible to everyone. Risk appetite and tolerance thresholds should be reviewed and updated regularly, based on the evolving needs of the project, program, portfolio or organizational standards. Everyone responsible for managing risk should sign the contract after reviewing the risk management information on project management tool or organizational portal. By providing this acknowledgement, each individual confirms that they are aware of the responsibilities and expectations related to risk management within the team, project, program, portfolio or organization.

Please login or join to reply

Content ID:
ADVERTISEMENTS

"Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win."

- Bernadette Devlin

ADVERTISEMENT

Sponsors