Identifying and Managing Project Risk, 3rd Edition

Book description

Projects—especially complex ones—are inherently risky. Between time constraints, technical challenges, and resource issues, things can easily go wrong—making the identification of potential risks an essential component of every project manager's job.

Fully updated and consistent with the Risk Management Professional (RMP) certification and the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®), Identifying and Managing Project Risk remains the definitive resource for project managers seeking to guard against failure.

Drawing on real-world situations and hundreds of examples, the book outlines the risk management process and provides proven methods for project risk planning. Readers will learn how to use high-level risk assessment tools, implement a system for monitoring and controlling projects, and properly document every consideration. Analyzing aspects such as project scope, available resources, and scheduling, the third edition also offers fresh guidance on program risk management, qualitative and quantitative risk analysis, simulation and modeling, and significant "non-project" risks.

This practical book will help readers eliminate surprises and keep projects on track.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Introduction
  7. Chapter 1: Why Project Risk Management?
    1. The Doomed Project
    2. Risk
    3. Opportunities and Risks
    4. Benefits of Project Risk Management
    5. Costs of Project Risk Management
    6. The Project Risk Management Process
    7. Anatomy of a Failed Project: The First Panama Canal Project
  8. Chapter 2: Planning for Risk Management
    1. Project Selection
    2. Overall Project Planning Processes
    3. Defining Risk Management for the Project
    4. Risk Management Infrastructure for the Organization
    5. The PERIL Database
    6. A Second Panama Canal Project: Sponsorship and Initiation (1902–1904)
  9. Chapter 3: Identifying Project Scope Risk
    1. Sources of Scope Risk
    2. Defining Deliverables
    3. High-Level Risk Assessment Tools
    4. Setting Limits
    5. Work Breakdown Structure
    6. Other Scope-Related Risks
    7. Documenting the Risks
    8. Panama Canal: Setting the Objective (1905–1906)
  10. Chapter 4: Identifying Project Schedule Risk
    1. Sources of Schedule Risk
    2. Activity Definition
    3. Estimating Activity Duration
    4. Activity Sequencing
    5. Documenting the Risks
    6. Panama Canal: Planning (1905–1907)
  11. Chapter 5: Identifying Project Resource Risk
    1. Sources of Resource Risk
    2. Resource Planning
    3. Staff Acquisition
    4. Outsourcing
    5. Effort Estimates Adjusted for Risk
    6. Cost Estimates, Budgets, and Risk
    7. Documenting the Risks
    8. Panama Canal: Resources (1905–1907)
  12. Chapter 6: Managing Project Constraints and Documenting Risks
    1. Analyzing Constraints
    2. Managing Opportunities
    3. Scope Modification
    4. Resource Modification
    5. Schedule Modification
    6. Assessing Options and Updating Plans
    7. Seeking Missing Risks
    8. Creating a Risk Register
    9. Panama Canal: Improving the Plan (1906)
  13. Chapter 7: Quantifying and Analyzing Activity Risks
    1. Qualitative and Quantitative Risk Analysis
    2. Probability and Impact
    3. Qualitative Risk Assessment
    4. Quantitative Risk Assessment
    5. Panama Canal: Risks (1906–1914)
  14. Chapter 8: Managing Activity Risks
    1. Root Cause Analysis
    2. Categories of Risk
    3. Selecting Risks to Address
    4. Risk Response Planning
    5. Dealing with Risk Causes
    6. Implementing Preventative Ideas
    7. Dealing with Risk Effects
    8. Documenting Your Risk Plans and Risk Owners
    9. Managing a Specific Risk
    10. Bow Tie Analysis for Documenting Risk Responses
    11. Panama Canal: Risk Plans (1906–1914)
  15. Chapter 9: Quantifying and Analyzing Project Risk
    1. Project-Level Risk
    2. Aggregating Risk Responses
    3. Project Modeling and Simulations
    4. Integrated Schedule/Cost Assessment
    5. System Analysis
    6. Critical Chain Considerations
    7. Questionnaires and Surveys
    8. Analysis of Scale
    9. Project Appraisal
    10. Scenario Analysis
    11. Project Metrics
    12. Financial Metrics
    13. Panama Canal: Overall Risks (1907)
  16. Chapter 10: Managing Project Risk
    1. Project Documentation Requirements
    2. Project Start-Up
    3. Selecting and Implementing Project Metrics
    4. Establishing Reserves and Managing for Contingency
    5. Project Baseline Negotiation
    6. Project Plan Validation
    7. Specification Change Control
    8. Panama Canal: Adjusting the Objective (1907)
  17. Chapter 11: Monitoring and Controlling Risky Projects
    1. Don’t Panic
    2. Applying the Plan
    3. Project Monitoring
    4. Collecting Project Status
    5. Metrics and Trend Analysis
    6. Responding to Issues
    7. Communication and Risk Reporting
    8. Project Archive
    9. Managing Risk Reserves
    10. Project Reviews and Risk Reassessment
    11. Taking Over a Troubled Project
    12. Panama Canal: Risk-Based Replanning (1908)
  18. Chapter 12: Closing Projects
    1. Project Closure
    2. Project Retrospective Analysis
    3. Panama Canal: Completion (1914)
  19. Chapter 13: Program, Portfolio, and Enterprise Risk Management
    1. Project Risk Management in Context
    2. Program Risk Management
    3. Portfolio Risk Management
    4. Enterprise Risk Management
    5. Panama Canal: Over the Years
  20. Chapter 14: Conclusion
    1. Choosing to Act
    2. Managing Your Risks
    3. Panama Canal: The Twenty-First Century
  21. Appendix: Selected Detail from the PERIL Database
    1. Scope Risks
    2. Schedule Risks
    3. Resource Risks
  22. Index
  23. About the Author
  24. Free Sample Chapter from The AMA Handbook of Project Management, Fourth Edition

Product information

  • Title: Identifying and Managing Project Risk, 3rd Edition
  • Author(s): Tom Kendrick
  • Release date: March 2015
  • Publisher(s): AMACOM
  • ISBN: 9780814436097