Topic > Project Risk Management - 1232

Project Risk ManagementIntroductionProject risk management is one of the most difficult parts of any project. It has been compared to a minefield where one wrong step can stop you in your tracks. When developing a project that needs to be planned in advance, a project manager should take into account those obstacles that could inevitably cause delays or increased costs, it is a must. While there are a number of risks in every project that can develop over the course of the project, it is worth considering the top five specific risks. In the simulation on the University of Phoenix website titled “Managing Project Risk”, the five specific risks found were; resource constraints, skill and competency gaps, reliance on FAFS for design inputs, availability of networking equipment, legacy systems and standard laws. Resource Constraints In every project there are different types of resource constraints including; people, materials, equipment, and working capital to name a few (Gray & Larson, 2005, p. 244). In our simulation the resources discussed were materials and people. The people in our scenario only work part-time and are not experts at what they do. Training is the only thing that will be necessary to ensure the success of the team. Today's younger generations have not been taught how important real work is to success (Goldsmith, M. 2008). The likelihood that the scheduling of part-time people assigned to the project could become an issue was medium to high and that it would cause a high impact on the project budget and completion date, which in turn would pose the possibility of failure , or exposure, to medium threat. One of the mitigation strategies could be to allocate additional resources: rescheduling critical activities based on the availability of part-time staff. Organize regular team meetings with project sponsors. In the event of a change in the management plan, some of these team members could be released and resources diverted to other areas with some of the less skilled work outsourced. Skills and Competency Gaps The likelihood of this affecting project completion would be high if this issue had not been planned for. Without proper training and instruction, the impact on the project would be medium risk. This would cause a delay. However, as the training involved would be planned in advance, and trying to get those people into the team who are actively looking for development opportunities, to work on those skills they have not yet managed to fully exploit, could delay the end date.