Guest Post by John Ayers (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

The majority of companies today outsource a major portion (up to 60-70%) of their work scope to subcontractors.  As a result, the subcontractors become a risk to your project because you have no direct control over them. For example, if they start to slip their schedule you cannot direct them to put more assets on the job to pull the schedule back. The other risk that is not obvious is that posed by your subcontractors major vendors or subcontractors. To illustrate this point, this article describes a story that I was personally involved in. 

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Guest Post by John Ayers (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Based on my career experience as a project manager, I have observed that promotions can come quicker in a small company compared to a large one. This is especially true after you have gained several years’ experience. For some reason, many large companies are slow in giving promotions unless you are a rising star.  If you are not a rising start and want to get a promotion, I suggest you look for opportunities in small companies to get the title you want (e.g., project manager).

Once you have the title, no one can take it away which means after several years’ experience in a small company you have a much better chance of getting the same position but with more responsibility and pay in a large company. The challenge is-do you have the right stuff to succeed in a small company?

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Guest Post by Patrick Ow (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Criticality Map, a strategic top-down analytical tool that I developed and used, is vital for risk management, assurance mapping, and regulatory compliance. It is a great simplified tool for effectively guiding management action and resource allocation and as a sanity check.

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Guest Post by Patrick Ow (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Strategic alliances are a vital tool to driving growth by enabling access to external capabilities. They are collaborations, partnerships, or joint ventures whereby organisations, or partners, work together for a common purpose to achieve a common business benefit or purpose.

As much as strategic alliances are an important tool to drive growth and deliver needed capabilities, they are not without their challenges and risks.

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Guest Post by Malcolm Peart (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

Risk…it’s everywhere whether the risks are known or unknown, foreseeable or unforeseeable but, as the saying goes, “one person’s risk is another’s opportunity”.

Within this risk-opportunity spectrum we have the risk averse, the risk seeking as well as those who purport to manage risk for their business or personal lives.

We also have those who believe that risk is something that happens to other people and those who believe that Murphy’s Law will always apply to them, always, at all times, and in every circumstance.

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Guest Post by Peter Holtmann (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

This article is the sixth of fourteen parts to our risk management series. The series will be taking a look at the risk management guidelines under the ISO 31000 Standard to help you better understand them and how they relate to your own risk management activities. In doing so, we’ll be walking through the core aspects of the Standard and giving you practical guidance on how to implement it.

In previous articles we’ve looked at the core elements of the risk management framework, as well as the role of leadership and commitment, integration, design and implementation more specifically. In this article, we’ll be looking at how to effectively evaluate your organisation’s risk management framework.

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Guest Post by John Ayers (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

What does the future of any profession mean? Underdetermined future events (e.eg. COVID-19)? Future proof job? Work /family balance? Health at a later date? Secure retirement?  It is all of the above and that is why you need to choose the right profession for you.

The future of the project management profession is bright and strong for a long time to come.

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Guest Post by Daniel Burrus (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

You read that headline right: everything does suck! And in this article, I’m going to give you the solid reasons why this makes me both optimistic and excited about our future!

Think to yourself: On any given day, how many times do you hear someone grumbling about their phone not working well, traffic patterns on their way to work driving them insane, how a business of any kind inconvenienced them by having poor customer service, or a government institution – commonly one like the DMV – putting them in a sour mood?

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Guest Post by Peter Holtmann (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

This article is the fifth of fourteen parts to our risk management series. The series will be taking a look at the risk management guidelines under the ISO 31000 Standard to help you better understand them and how they relate to your own risk management activities. In doing so, we’ll be walking through the core aspects of the Standard and giving you practical guidance on how to implement it.

In previous articles (1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th) we’ve looked at the core elements of the risk management framework generally, as well as the role of leadership and commitment, integration and design more specifically. In this article, we’ll be looking at how to effectively implement the risk management framework into your organisation.

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Guest Post by John Ayers (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

A risk is an event or activity that can go wrong and cause an impact to the project. Risks can have a negative or positive impact to the project. Risks that have a positive impact are called opportunities. If they have a negative impact, they are called risks. A goal on a project is to try and balance risks and opportunities to mitigate the chance of cost or schedule growth.

There are two basic categories of project risk. They are the known and unknown. The known risks are the four project constraints (scope, cost, schedule, quality). Poor execution of these constraints is a major reason why projects fail. This paper addresses how to manage known risks.

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Guest Post by Peter Holtmann (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

This article is the fourth of fourteen parts to our risk management series. The series will be taking a look at the risk management guidelines under the ISO 31000 Standard to help you better understand them and how they relate to your own risk management activities. In doing so, we’ll be walking through the core aspects of the Standard and giving you practical guidance on how to implement it.

In previous articles (1st, 2nd, & 3rd) we’ve looked at the core elements of the risk management framework generally, as well as the role of leadership and commitment, and integration more specifically. In this article, we’ll be looking at how to effectively design your risk management framework.

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