Powerful Risk Control Strategies

Let’s break out of the strict risk management process and consider some powerful strategies you should consider to either deal with the high priority risks you now have or to reduce the number of new risks from occurring as your project goes.

• Tackle high risks first— Develop a work plan that attacks your high risk factors right out of the gates. Why? If you are going to have a problem, it is best to know sooner than later. If something is not feasible or acceptable, determine this as soon as possible, so senior management can decide whether the project is worthy of organizational investment and resources.
  
  
• Use iterative, phased approaches— By breaking the work of the project into multiple iterations and phases, you provide a systematic method of providing tangible output to the stakeholders sooner and more often. The multiple points of review and feedback with the stakeholders allow you to better control your greatest risk—stakeholder expectations and satisfaction.
  
  

  Caution

  For those planning on taking the PMP exam, note that risk management planning and risk response planning are two distinct activities.

• QA the planning process— Mentioned before, but worth mentioning again—make sure to do a quality review on the planning process. This step helps identify planning defects that if undetected will become unknown risks with a high impact potential.
  
  
• Leverage independent QA audits— Leveraging an independent, experienced, objective viewpoint can be a powerful way to identify risk factors and to determine the best response strategies. This can be especially useful in project situations where the key stakeholders are inexperienced, the climate is very political, or when multiple vendors are involved.