Risk. Did the US examine and mitigate the risk of a Japanese attack on Pearl harbour in 1941? Did the White Star Line consciously accept the risk of so many people dying when the Titanic was fitted with so few lifeboats? Did someone examine the risk of a blackout leaving 55 million people in the dark before it actually happened in 2003? Are you managing the risk on your project?

If your project accepts too much risk your project may be unachievable. If your project accepts too little risk  you’re likely not innovating enough to stay viable. Managing risk is a delicate balance many strive to achieve but few succeed at doing well.

In my 15 years of project management work I’ve managed risk on dozens of projects. In my years I have attempted to quantify risk and find a scientific answer to the degree of risk on my project.  I’ve learned in our profession of delivering valuable systems to our customers we’re fools! We’re foolish if we think we can make a science out managing risk in predictable and reliable ways. This is not an industrial process we’re leading!

I always believe in the importance of managing the risk on our projects. It doesn’t matter if you use waterfall, SCRUM, Kanban or any other methodology. If you’re not managing the risk you are highly likely to fall short of succeeding. I do find numerous agile teams who ignore this important process. But the good news is they don’t need to stray into the legacy world of risk management many teams endure.

Here’s a game to help you with this important activity. Rather than a boring brainstorming session try this game I’ve posted on Tastycupcakes.org called The risk is in the blocks

Try it out and let me know how it works for you! Regardless of how you do it, make sure you manage the risk!