The International Community for Project Managers (ICPM)

This is about Risk. There are visible and invisible risks in any software project and those risks may appear any time during the project life. PMBOK has a separate knowledge area on risk management. YES it’s that important! So ..Then why most the SCRUM practitioners are so silent about risk management ( Ok we Agilists think the word “management” is evil ;-) So I will use the word “risk handling”). I think risk handling is one of the most unspoken areas in agile processes.

Overview: Risk management is a key, if under-appreciated, part of project management. Managing things that you’ve mapped out thoroughly and understand in detail is challenging at times, a science in its own right. However, a knack for managing unknowns elevates your work to the level of art.

Every professional Project Manager understands the triple constraints of scope, schedule and budget. We also understand that everything affects everything else. Of course there are other constraints such as quality, customer satisfaction and so on that we also have to consider. External constraints impact your projects such in the form of weather, labor conditions and even legal requirements. Dealing with these known constraints is a big part of the planning effort and putting those different parts into a coherent and effective whole is every bit as much an art as composing a symphony.

All managers especially project managers are faced with risk at one time or another as the future cannot be  predicted accurately managers have to take a position when facing risk.  I looked at some real life situations from the past and found that the examples set by these persons is very similar to the responsibilities that project managers are faced with.

Risk Monitoring and Review closes the loop of the Risk Management Process, by creating a continuing process to review how the project’s risk exposure has changed, if at all, assessing the effectiveness of the risk response actions, and communicating the results of the risk management process to the project stakeholders. During the facilitated meeting, the participants create the Risk Communication Plan, to manage communication to the project stakeholders.