Merlin, Risk Management

risksReading about Risk Management on the web, one could get really mixed up. Some propagate its importance and need exactly as described in the traditional risk management. Others find that there are likely to be significant problems with this approach:

The most fundamental problem comes down to the psychology of risk and language. Projects are all about achieving objectives by set timescales i.e. positive ventures, Risk is a negative entity so to get people to think and talk openly about their risks can be a challenge to say the least.

A yet again different approach is to put your Project Management Team at risk. Similar to the statement, use it if you don’t want to loose it, for keeping your management agility it could be a good thing to be slightly out of control. A challenged and uncomfortable team will be more open to changes and willing to improvements.

Risk Management in Merlin is done by the use of risk elements:

Insert menu > Element > Risk

Risk elements can be attached to the project, activities or project phases. This will allow you to mitigate the risk. Visit all your risks when your project is done and evaluate how successful your planning was in dealing with them. Retaining your risk data in your project provides a unique perspective on it later on.

Read here more about using Merlin’s Risk Management

2 thoughts on “Merlin, Risk Management

  1. I often argued that project management is nothing more than risk management. The reason for planning anything is because if it isn’t planned, there is a risk that it will not go as needed. The opposite is often true, that when something is not planned down to the last detail, it can still go just fine (which often drove me crazy).

    The nice thing about tools is that they help us plan and track and hence mitigate risks. The only risk to using tools is something I call the “Diet Dilemma” where one gets so caught up in the care and feeding of the tool, that it distracts from the actual task the tool is meant to help with.

    Thanks for the reference.

    Bruce Benson
    http://PMToolsThatWork.com (“You Are Your Best Project Management Tool”)

  2. Hi Bruce, you are welcome 🙂
    We see your point with the diet dilemma. I guess it is a question of time and experience before one finds the approach which meets at best his personal and business needs.

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