Risk Assessment in the Initiation Phase

00:02 The project is feasible.

00:05 The organisation has the resources needed to execute the project.

00:10 But what about the things unseen? To use an analogy, the first thing to do when entering a dark room is to find the light switch.

00:20 In project management terms, this means reveal the risks.

00:26 The way we deal with uncertainty will undoubtedly affect whether the project is a success or will we turn the lights back off and hope for the best.

00:36 Risks must be identified, analyzed and responded to.

00:42 Although we will go into way more detail during the planning phase, as will the project manager. But for now, one area that needs to be addressed is everyone's expectations.

00:54 Does everybody share the same vision as each other? Are they expecting the same resources? Who does everyone think is ultimately accountable? This. Go back to our project example.

01:08 Perhaps one of our stakeholders imagines our showroom to be targeted towards families.

01:12 So once more saloon cars to be showcased, while another knows that luxury sports cars sell very well in this part of the city, so expects more of the cars to be two door convertibles.

01:24 Or maybe the sponsor believes the hiring of staff is outside of the project scope, while the stakeholders believe the project is not complete until the showroom is physically open for business.

01:37 We must spend time with stakeholders looking at the project in development from every angle to see if there is something that looks different to someone else.

01:46 The sooner they can find and resolve expectation gaps, the better.

01:50 Overlooking these expectations can have disastrous results.

01:56 Okay. So now we've done our preliminary checks.

01:59 And of course, during the planning phase, we will go into much more detail.

02:03 But before the initiation phase can be closed, a project charter has to be created. A neat, high level document detailing everything done in the initiation.

02:17 See you in the next lesson.