Identifying and Managing Project Risk: Essential Tools for Failure-Proofing Your Project

Identifying and Managing Project Risk is a practical guide to minimizing the possibility of failure in critical projects. The book takes readers step by step through every phase of a project, showing them how to consider the possible risks involved at every point in the process. Relevant figures and diagrams support the text and illustrate key scenarios. At the end of each chapter is an analysis of how the principles just discussed applied to a supreme example of what many once considered a truly impossible project: the building of the Panama Canal.

Packed with real-world information, this book is essential reading for any project manager seeking to complete projects smoothly and successfully.

Book Description

It’s no wonder that project managers spend so much time focusing their attention on risk identification. Important projects tend to be time constrained, pose huge technical challenges, and suffer from a lack of adequate resources. Identifying and Managing Project Risk, now updated and consistent with the very latest Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)® Guide, takes readers through every phase of a project, showing them how to consider the possible risks involved at every point in the process.

Drawing on real-world situations and hundreds of examples, the book outlines proven methods, demonstrating key ideas for project risk planning and showing how to use high-level risk assessment tools. Analyzing aspects such as available resources, project scope, and scheduling, this new edition also explores the growing area of Enterprise Risk Management. Comprehensive and completely up-to-date, this book helps readers determine risk factors thoroughly and decisively…before a project gets derailed.

Anyone who - like me -- has struggled to relate the abstract discussion of Risk Management in the PMBOK to actual project management practice will welcome this down-to-earth presentation. This book shows how to incorporate risk management into the planning of your project along the way - the entire way -- of the project development sequence.

Mr. Kendrick had many years of practical project management experience with Hewlett- Packard and headed their in-house project management training and consulting program. Over a period of 10 years, he trained hundreds of project managers at HP, in other organizations world-wide, and at the University of California at Berkeley and systematically collected information about the most significant risks they had encountered in their projects. The result is a database called PERIL (Project Experience Risk Information Library), that contains 222 projects sorted into risk categories based on type and impact. In this book, these results are integrated with the PMBOK processes of project development in a way that shows what project management is really all about.

Anecdotes from the construction of the Panama Canal are interestingly presented at the ends of the chapters. These describe how the concepts of each chapter were applied - or not - first by the French in their failed attempt to build the canal, and then by the Americans in their successful endeavor under the sponsorship of Teddy Roosevelt.


A "Must Have" for Your Library   May 10, 2006
Sue White (Washington, DC Metro area)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful

As the other reviewers have indicated, this book is an excellent addition to your library.

It is well-written, well-organized, and supported by real-life data from his PERIL database (compiled from hundreds of projects, world-wide, over the past decade). The book makes good use of bullets and diagrams to emphasize and/or explain important points.

I particularly liked the way he correlated his material with the Project Management Institute (PMI)'s PMBOK.

Further, I appreciated his discussion of some of the most difficult issues that arise when implementing a formalized project management methodology (including some that are seldom addressed in books), e.g.:

o Tips for persuading senior level management of the necessity of a formalized project management methodology

o Recognizing the power shift that occurs within a company when formalized project management/portfolio management processes are implemented and followed

o Metrics, derived from the PERIL database, relating to things such as the impact of the permanent (or temporary) loss of a project team member. (I'm always looking for metrics to support some business case, or other request to senior management, for additional ... time ... resources ... budget, etc.)

o The Appendix, which listed some of the Schedule, Resource and Scope risks from the PERIL database

o The sample Risk Questionnaire, and the many other tools, tip and procedures included in the book

Overall, I give it five stars and expect that it will become "dog-eared" very quickly, from heavy use, as I refer to it often in my work.


Good overview, heavy in IT & scheduling   March 23, 2007
ruffh2o (CA United States)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

This risk management book provides a good overview of the risk management process from start to finish, and provides examples from technical projects. The text guides the reader through the three steps of risk identification, assessment, and management, and discusses the difference between macro-management of risk at a corporate or portfolio level, and micro-management of risk at the project level.

The book stresses the need for an understanding of each facet of the project in order to identify areas of risk. There is a very strong emphasis on scheduling, with many good suggestions regarding risk reduction, and the timing of risky activities during the course of the project. The information provided is largely qualitative, with some brief discussion about quantitative analysis, methods, and risk assessment tools. Some of the quantitative methods described are specifically for IT projects, with criteria such as technology, architecture, and system complexity. The material in the book relies heavily on the PMI Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, 2000 edition (PMBOK).

The bulk of the book focuses on good risk management techniques, decision-making, and project planning. Management tools, such as root cause analysis, diagnostic project metrics, and financial metrics, are described in detail. The author provides the reader with a broad scope of information regarding risk management, and the book is an excellent resource for those who seek an introduction or refreshment of good project management and risk management concepts.



I Got What I Needed From This Book   August 11, 2005
John Reinheimer
2 out of 4 found this review helpful

I found the book well written, easy to read and follow and packed with a lot of good information. I used the book to help respond to a proposal for IT risk management. I used a lot of information from the book to help write our response to the proposal. The author does a good job of explaining the process and procedures for a sound organizational risk management program. I definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to start a risk management program at their company.