Through our consulting practice we have observed a number of Project Opportunity and Risk management processes as applied in a number of project-driven organizations, in particular for Large and Complex Projects. We have found that their effectiveness was sometimes low compared to the related expenses and hindered by some simple issues. In our new White Paper ‘Five Contrarian and Simple Disciplines to Improve the Effectiveness of Your Project Risk Management Process’ we share some simple yet contrarian ideas that, if applied consistently, will greatly enhance the effectiveness of that process.

Here are the five disciplines we have identified:

1. Implement Effective Prioritization prior to Action
2. Implement Actual Portfolio Risk management
3. Do not over-trust the results of Monte-Carlo calculations
4. Focus more effort on preventing low probability, high consequence risks
5. Recognize the psychological effects accompanying failure and the risk of inadequate risk taking

It is our firm belief that Project Opportunity and Risk Management should be one of the key processes at the center of Project and Project portfolio execution. While the process is well established now in most Project-driven organizations, it remains too often a bureaucratic exercise and still requires substantial improvement to really deliver the impact that is intended to the business. We have given in our new White Paper ‘Five Contrarian and Simple Disciplines to Improve the Effectiveness of Your Project Risk Management Process’ some simple key disciplines and we know from experience that some risk practitioners might find these suggestions too unusual. Still, it is our expectation that these hints will give the Project risk community and the Project-driven organizations’ decision-makers sound insights about the reforms that are required to make the process significantly more impactful and better contributing to the organization’s long term sustainable business results.