Risk Management in Waterfall projects are clearly defined, but in agile projects, most of the Scrum Master/PMs have the idea that they don't need to control or analyse risk. How do you do it today? Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Cristina,
I personally believe Risks are always there be it in Waterfall or Agile and they need to be studied, analyzed and accounted for properly. I always perform Risk analysis but probably this might be a personal preference coming from experience. Saving Changes...
However, depending on your organization's structure and culture, a Scrum Master will most likely defer general Risk Analysis to the Product Owner. The logic here is that the Product Owner controls the budget and features and thus is the primary beneficiary of managing risk. All the Scrum Master is doing (in this scenario) is moving the development team along according to the Product Owner's wishes.
This of course is but one example of an infinite number of variations that risk management can take, regardless of the method or organization.
Risk Management is part of Project Management, regardless of the methodology being used. And Risk Management is not just for the Product Owner, PM, Scrum Master, or Tech Lead. It's a joint responsibility across the project team.
While I agree with your comment at the conceptual level, I have found in practice "joint" or "shared" responsibility means no one is responsible. From another angle, it is unreasonable to share fiscal risk, for example, on a team member who is not charged with any fiscal responsibility and can take no direct steps to mitigate it.
So while there is no denying all project teams share in the outcome of their respective projects, properly managed risk (across a myriad of areas) must ultimately be owned by single individuals who have the ability and responsibility to take the necessary actions to avoid, reduce or eliminate it. Otherwise, and I think you'll appreciate this based on your blogging topics, a great deal of waste will be generated by folks who can't do anything to address the risks at hand.
Kindest regards,
- Cris
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1 reply by John Herman
Jan 26, 2017 10:16 AM
John Herman
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At every status meeting, and/or stand-up, we quickly review risks within the team. Yes, you are correct that developers generally can't share fiscal risk, just as sponsors can't share in most of the technical risks. I'm sorry if you interpreted my comment such that all of the project risks are shared across all of the project team. It's not a communal risk pool. The team as a whole should be aware of all of the risks, even if they can't control some of them because it's possible that ameliorating risk in one area could exaggerate it in another. Reviewing the risks at each meeting also helps keep them somewhat in the forefront of the team's thoughts.
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Deepesh RammoorthyICT Project Manager ( PMP®AgilePM®Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®))| Australian Red Cross Blood ServiceTarneit, Vic, Australia
Agile projects are also Projects . A temporary endeavor to produce a unique product or service. Just by making a project Agile, you are not getting rid of or mitigating Project Risks .
In fact if you establish a project risk register in the beginning and keep evolving it with every sprint , you are likely to be more effective in their treatments .
The other advantage is that you can even place more focus on the risks in that particular sprint while managing the risks that affect the whole project.
Regarding ownership, My Two cents worth is that Project Manager, Irrespective of the methodology of the Project, must establish and monitor the Project Risk Register.
I Agree completely with Anupam, Rami and John.
The project manager may make other members of the project accountable for risks but ultimately they are accountable to the Sponsor and need to make sure that the risk is being treated appropriately. Saving Changes...
In the daily stand-up meeting they should be reporting any issues or problems they have, the Scrum Master must identify them and work with the stakeholders to solve the problem. In Agile people don´t always share all the details, they only want to say the nice things. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
You have to differentiate between the approach you will use and the project life cycle you will use. Or the agile method based on the project life cycle. It means that you can apply Agile principles into a waterfall based life cycle project. But I will assume that you are talking about risks inside an agile software development method (today most of them becomes agile solution delivery methods). Risk management is the same than in other type of methods. For example, if you use the most popular method in Europe (mainly UK) which is DSDM you will find risk management process defined into it. In methods you have to perform the risk management process that you define for your organization. If you need some reference search for the Agile Extension to PMBOK inside the PMI site. Saving Changes...
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