Best practice risk management solutions, helping you to reduce risks and exploit opportunities in your business, programmes and projects.
Successful planners take risks!
February 2009
Susheel Chumber and Nigel Vereker from Risk Decisions Limited, gave a vibrant talk on risk analysis and management within the planning process. Their presentation was studded with practical tips and drew regularly on the case study of Sunderland Metro Extension, a recent programme on which they advised on risk management.
They explored the pitfalls of assumptions around risk and project scheduling (such as Merge Bias and Finish-to-Finish scheduling) and developed thinking on Schedule Reserving. Tips on scheduling were offered with regard to scope change, the accommodation of tombstone risks and the practice of ‘Schedule Promise Buffers’. This led into giving pointers on determining the ‘appetite for risk’ in planning and the importance of understanding the factors behind decisions to set an aggressive plan with schedule reserve, rather than a relaxed plan with embedded float. This topic was neatly supported by inviting the audience to select a chocolate truffle from many which were passed around - some of which had been spiked with a double dose of chilli!
They nimbly defined and explained their terms throughout the talk and covered a range of topics in the time available. Questions from the audience further explored the basis of setting risk appetite, the grey areas between uncertainty and risk, and the practical application of the computer modelling. They concluded by qualifying the title of their talk, stressing that successful planners take measured risks!
