John TiesoAuthor, Lecturer in Business Management| The Catholic University of America, Busch School of Business & EconomicsArlington, Va, United States
Assuming that the risk was (1) identified, (2) discussed, (3) documented, and (4) the Project sponsor decided to proceed anyway, it is the Sponsor's responsibility for the failure. Saving Changes...
Lonnie PacelliAuthor & President| ProjectManagementAdvisor.comBellevue, Wa, United States
If the PM was doing everything in his/her power to avert the risk then the PM should not be held accountable for failure. If the PM was using the risk as a "Cover your A$$" and allowed the risk to materialize without doing everything in his/her power then the PM is accountable. In either scenario the Sponsor is going to be held accountable to his/her management Saving Changes...
The risk owner is rarely the person who authorizes the risk against the advice of the PM. So I would disagree that the risk owner is responsible in all cases. If a senior manager or sponsor is willing to accept the risk against the PM or PM Team's advice, a "risk owner" is still assigned to manage the risk and response plan. A solution may be to get the senior manager to sign a waiver to accept the risk. Failing that, document it as a constraint. Saving Changes...
Kgobalale John MalatjiProjects Portfolio Manager | Noko-impJohannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
My experience is that most project threatening risks are classified as "unlikely to happen ". This reduces their ultimate score.
With low score, people tend to almost ignore them or offer little thought-of mitigating plan..
As to who should be held responsible, there are few considerations to make
The key pointer is the governance structure and decision matrix of the organization.
1. The decision making body must take responsibility if they have been well appraised of the risk, its likelihood and its effects.
2. If the specialist has failed to appraise the decision making body of the risk parameters then the blame lies at the door of the specialist.
a. Now if the specialist is the subordinate of the Project Manager, the Project Manager must take the fall with him.
b. If the specialist is outside the project, then the specialist is on his own. Saving Changes...
Peter MorrisPM Consultant, Author| INDUS TechnologySan Antonio Texas, United States
Agree w/ Aaron. All risks should be assigned to a Risk Owner, who is responsible for monitoring and response. Saving Changes...
John TiesoAuthor, Lecturer in Business Management| The Catholic University of America, Busch School of Business & EconomicsArlington, Va, United States
Jun 12, 2017 2:19 PM
Replying to Aaron Porter
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The Risk Owner, whether that is the sponsor or someone else, is the initial responsible person that comes to mind. This is assuming standard risk management definitions and practices.
1) The Risk Owner is THE person who has authority to make decisions about the risk
2) Accepting the risk means that the risk owner decided that no mitigating action was required for the risk
3) Proper/adequate risk analysis was performed
It doesn't seem like there are many situations where someone would knowingly accept a risk that had high potential to cause a project to fail.
Thinking about this a little more, it could also be a no-fault situation. There could be a low (or higher) probability of not getting enough budget approved to continue a project. Is it really the risk owners fault if the company slashes the budget, causing the project to fail?
Would you not agree, Aaron, when a risk analysis is done, and the PM agrees that a risk is lower on the priority, the PM now own the risk
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1 reply by Aaron Porter
Jul 06, 2017 2:02 PM
Aaron Porter
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Not necessarily. Replace PM with anyone else - does that change your position? If [someone] agrees that a risk is a low priority, does that make that person the risk owner?
It's not about determining priority, which a PM probably should not have final say on, anyway. The owner is the person who can make decisions about the risk - how important it is, the mitigation strategy (or not to mitigate)... If that person is the PM, that is what makes the PM the risk owner.
Saving Changes...
Philippe SchulerSenior Instructor/Lecturer in Project/Program/Account PMO Management| Independant ConsultantLes Choux, France
First of all PM must think about his/her customer interest. If PM accepts to manage a projection with very high risk accepted by thé Sponsor hé/she must keep thé Sponsor in thé loop upfront with any difficultés or issues tha can lead to thé failure. If thé PM does not involve thé Sponsor hé/she Will bé fully responsable at thé project failure. Sponsor responsabilité must bé assessed and communicantes regularly to have thé Sponsor taking his part of responsabilité. Sometimes it could bé useful to involve thé customer. If thé customer sees thé PM is doing thé job to manage thé big risk thus thé responsibility of the PM can bé downgraded or cancelled during thé project post-mortem. Saving Changes...
Would you not agree, Aaron, when a risk analysis is done, and the PM agrees that a risk is lower on the priority, the PM now own the risk
Not necessarily. Replace PM with anyone else - does that change your position? If [someone] agrees that a risk is a low priority, does that make that person the risk owner?
It's not about determining priority, which a PM probably should not have final say on, anyway. The owner is the person who can make decisions about the risk - how important it is, the mitigation strategy (or not to mitigate)... If that person is the PM, that is what makes the PM the risk owner. Saving Changes...
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