520 Chapter 11
Where to look for risks
A good way to understand risks for the exam is to know where they
come from. If you start thinking about how you find risks on your
project, it will help you figure out how to handle them.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re looking for risks:
These areas are a good start, but there are plenty of other places on your
project where you can find risks. Can you think of some of them?
find all the risks
You can’t always depend on all the
resources you were promised.
Have you ever been promised a person,
equipment, conference room, or some other
resource, only to be told at the last minute that
the resource you were depending on wasn’t
available? What about having a critical team
member get sick or leave the company at the
worst possible time? Check your list of resources.
If a resource might not be available to you when
you need it, then that’s a risk.
11
The critical path is full of risks.
Remember the critical path method from
the Time Management chapter? Well, an
activity on the critical path is a lot riskier
than an activity with plenty of float,
because any delay in that activity will delay
the project.
22
”When you assume...”
Have you ever heard that old saying about what
happens when you assume? At the beginning of
the project, your team had to make a bunch of
assumptions in order to do your estimates. But
some of those assumptions may not actually be
true, even though you needed to make them for
the sake of the estimate. It’s a good thing you
wrote them down—now it’s time to go back and
look at that list. If you find that some of them
that are likely to be false, then you’ve found a
risk.
33
Look outside your project.
Is there a new rule, regulation or law being
passed that might affect your project? A
new union contract being negotiated?
Could the price of a critical component
suddenly jump? There are plenty of things
outside of your project that are risks—and
if you identify them now, you can plan for
them and not be caught off guard.
44
If an activity that’s not on the critical
path has a really small float, that means
a small problem could easily cause it to
become critical—which could lead to big
delays in your project.
Finding risks means talking to
your team and being creative.
Risks can be anywhere.
