Risk management - Stakeholders
Stakeholders
Identify the stakeholders involved
As referred to previously [see What is risk?], how the risk is managed will depend upon the potential affect on the project. Who will make the final decision? A risk may need to be presented to the appropriate stakeholder. The project team will have to be sure who that is. Is it the steering committee, the board or will it be the direct customer?
Other stakeholders whose opinion may need to be considered are legal departments, health and safety, regulatory and environmental bodies etc.
Typically the steering committee will be focussed on the budget and any deviation from it.
The over riding concern for the customer will be:
- When do I get it?
- How well does it work?
- How well made is it and will it last?
The customer could either be direct (client) or indirect (actual customer that uses the product).
In other words… time, performance and quality.
We have to remember the difference between ‘risk’ and ‘issue’ identified earlier:
| Risk: | A potential event that may have a detrimental affect on time, cost, quality and deliverables. |
| Issue: | This is an unpredicted event that requires a decision otherwise a negative affect on the project may result. |
In effect, risks are identified in advance and should thus be taken into account in the project plan, whilst issues may arise unexpectedly.
Identifying risk areas can present some problems. For instance, if the system is over zealous too many minor risks (in terms of potential impact) could be raised. This would become an irritation to a steering committee. A system generating too many minor risk areas could end up masking more significant ones owing to a lack of focus and poor technique.