When Should You Identify Risks? (+announcement)

In practice, you should use an integrated risk management approach.

This means that you should talk through possible risks for each and every activity during the project.

For example, when you collect requirements and write specifications, you and your team should always be on the lookout for risks:

• Track all the assumptions you make.
• Check if the requirements are ambiguous, i.e., do people understand the exact same requirements differently?
• Don't hide uncertainties. Instead, transform them into risks.

So, you capture all the identified risks as you go. You can then analyze them separately.

But that's not enough.

You also need in-depth risk identification sessions at specific critical points in project planning where you take a broader look at the project as a whole.

For example, here are some important times at which to consider the need for dedicated risk identification sessions:

• When clients identified the project goal.
• After you've identified key stakeholders.
• When you've reviewed risk categories for the first time.
• After you've collected most of the requirements.
• After you've created a draft of the work breakdown structure (WBS).
• After you've identified the required resources.
• After you've drafted the project schedule.
• After you've drafted the project budget.

In your personal life and career, you should apply the same principles.

You do need to always be on the lookout for risks. Likewise, you should analyze events that may impact your career. For example, the layoffs that happened this year.

That's why I'll share a special project management report next week on the economic decline, hiring slow-down, and potential layoffs in 2024.

Stay tuned, and please participate to prepare for the turbulent times ahead.

Dmytro Nizhebetskyi

IT PM School

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P.S. If you want to learn more about risk identification, this video is for you:

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