{"id":987518675,"date":"2024-04-24T09:48:46","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T08:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/?p=987518675"},"modified":"2024-05-09T11:00:30","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T10:00:30","slug":"understand-risk-management-with-use-cases-and-template","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/en\/understand-risk-management-with-use-cases-and-template\/","title":{"rendered":"Understand Risk Management with Use Cases + free Template"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.23.1&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.23.1&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.23.1&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][pac_divi_table_of_contents title=&#8221;Summary&#8221; collapse_when_sticky=&#8221;on&#8221; opened_icon=&#8221;&#x3a;||divi||400&#8243; closed_icon=&#8221;&#x3b;||divi||400&#8243; included_headings=&#8221;off|on|on|on|off|off&#8221; exclude_headings_by_class=&#8221;on&#8221; show_keyword_highlight=&#8221;on&#8221; show_keyword_highlight_placeholder=&#8221;Mots Cl\u00e9s &#8230;&#8221; level_markers_1=&#8221;icons&#8221; icon_marker_1=&#8221;&#x3d;||divi||400&#8243; level_markers_2=&#8221;icons&#8221; level_markers_3=&#8221;icons&#8221; icon_marker_3=&#8221;&#x45;||divi||400&#8243; level_markers_4=&#8221;icons&#8221; icon_marker_4=&#8221;&#x35;||divi||400&#8243; title_container_bg_color=&#8221;#1a9e21&#8243; body_area_height=&#8221;650px&#8221; body_area_scroll_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243; body_area_text_link_underline=&#8221;#000000&#8243; body_area_text_link_padding=&#8221;10px|0px|0px|0px|false|false&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.23.1&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; title_font_font=&#8221;Quicksand||||||||&#8221; heading_all_font=&#8221;|600|||||||&#8221; heading_all_font_size=&#8221;18px&#8221; marker_all_font=&#8221;|600|||||||&#8221; motion_trigger_start=&#8221;top&#8221; heading_all_font_size_tablet=&#8221;15px&#8221; heading_all_font_size_phone=&#8221;15px&#8221; heading_all_font_size_last_edited=&#8221;on|phone&#8221; border_radii=&#8221;on|10px|10px|10px|10px&#8221; border_color_all=&#8221;RGBA(255,255,255,0)&#8221; border_radii_title_container=&#8221;off|10px|10px|0px|0px&#8221; border_radii_body_area=&#8221;off|0px|0px|10px|10px&#8221; border_width_all_body_area=&#8221;3px&#8221; border_color_all_body_area=&#8221;RGBA(255,255,255,0)&#8221; box_shadow_style=&#8221;preset2&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][\/pac_divi_table_of_contents][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.23.1&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; background_color=&#8221;#f0f3f6&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;0px||0px|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.23.1&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.23.1&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][dipl_separator seprator_thickness=&#8221;1px&#8221; separator_color=&#8221;rgba(0,0,0,0.54)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.23.1&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][\/dipl_separator][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=&#8221;1_4,3_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.23.1&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;||40px||false|false&#8221; link_option_url=&#8221;https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/en\/how-to-apply-contract-effectively-to-agile-project\/&#8221; link_option_url_new_window=&#8221;on&#8221; border_radii=&#8221;on|0.25rem|0.25rem|0.25rem|0.25rem&#8221; border_width_all=&#8221;1px&#8221; border_color_all=&#8221;#dee2e6&#8243; box_shadow_style=&#8221;preset3&#8243; box_shadow_vertical=&#8221;5px&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.22.0&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_image src=&#8221;https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Agile-Contract-en.png&#8221; title_text=&#8221;Contractualisation&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.22.0&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; width=&#8221;100%&#8221; width_tablet=&#8221;100%&#8221; width_phone=&#8221;100%&#8221; width_last_edited=&#8221;on|tablet&#8221; max_width=&#8221;100%&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;-11px||-11px||false|false&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;|10px||10px|false|false&#8221; border_radii=&#8221;on|5px|5px|5px|5px&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=&#8221;3_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.22.0&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.23.1&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; text_font=&#8221;Quicksand||||||||&#8221; text_text_color=&#8221;#619ccd&#8221; text_font_size=&#8221;26px&#8221; text_line_height=&#8221;1em&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;|||-40px|false|false&#8221; custom_margin_tablet=&#8221;|15px||15px|false|false&#8221; custom_margin_phone=&#8221;|15px||15px|false|false&#8221; custom_margin_last_edited=&#8221;on|tablet&#8221; text_font_size_tablet=&#8221;20px&#8221; text_font_size_phone=&#8221;20px&#8221; text_font_size_last_edited=&#8221;on|phone&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h6><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><strong>Agility:<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/en\/agility-and-scrum\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Discover our articles on agility<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.23.1&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;0px||0px|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.23.1&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;||0px|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.23.1&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_text module_class=&#8221;blue-list list_space&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.25.0&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;||5px|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Goal of Risk Management<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/football.png\" width=\"169\" height=\"169\" alt=\"Goal\" class=\"wp-image-987518715 aligncenter size-full\" \/><\/strong>With a formal <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/en\/project-risk-management\/\">Risk Management<\/a><\/strong> approach, the goal is to record all the opportunities and risks that may affect the community. It&#8217;s very likely that someone or some group of individuals has experienced a similar situation, and their Lessons Learned could make all the difference.<\/p>\n<p>The goal of our Risk Management approach is to not repeat our mistakes and take full advantage of our opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>With mature Risk Management, we are stronger together.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Risk Management Terminology (And A Very Important Question)<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/dictionary.png\" width=\"157\" height=\"157\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-987518718 aligncenter size-full\" \/><\/strong><strong>Risk<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When we think about a\u00a0<em>risk<\/em>, we think about something that could happen\u00a0<em>in the future<u>.<\/u><\/em>\u00a0This includes opportunities, so we will use risk and opportunity interchangeably.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Issue<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>When we think about an\u00a0<em>issue,\u00a0<\/em>we think about something that has\u00a0<em>already happened<\/em>. Something that we didn&#8217;t see coming. (This could also be something good too!)<\/p>\n<h3><strong>And A Philosophical Question<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>But had we been practicing risk management, we may start to ask ourselves a philosophical question: Could all our issues really just be risks we never identified? This is the beauty of Risk Management. It gives us a certain level of foresight.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Some Theory about Risk Management<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/scientist.png\" width=\"176\" height=\"176\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-987518720 aligncenter size-full\" \/><\/strong>Thankfully, there&#8217;s a good chance you you already know how to think about risk. Don&#8217;t want to be late? You leave a little earlier. See gelato on sale? You may just buy a few extra scoops.<\/p>\n<p>The trick is that in many situations you are doing Risk Management without even knowing it. The goal is to now de-construct and understand what you have been doing all along.<\/p>\n<p>Every risk (and opportunity) is structured in the same fundamental way. There are three components:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Cause<\/li>\n<li>Risk<\/li>\n<li>Effect<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Let&#8217;s explore what each of these are.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cause<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is typically some kind of situation that can be stated in a very direct way. For example, &#8220;the sky continues to be blue&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Risk (The Event)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is what we want to address. In our simple example, the risk will be &#8220;it won&#8217;t rain and our crops won&#8217;t get water&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Effect<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Our crops will die.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Therefore our full risk statement is: If the sky is blue, then it won&#8217;t rain and our crops won&#8217;t get water. This means our crops will die.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>See how the &#8220;<strong>if-then<\/strong>&#8221; structure of the Cause and Risk seemed like it logically led to the effect ? That&#8217;s because we used a trick.<\/p>\n<p>We actually started with the effect in mind and worked our way backwards. This is how we naturally think about the future, and it&#8217;s also a very powerful tool.<\/p>\n<p>But somehow when we start to ask &#8220;What are all the things that could go wrong?&#8221;, we start getting lost. The reason is that there are theoretically an infinite amount of risks, but only a finite amount of effects.<\/p>\n<p>Traveling from Paris to Vienna can be achieved on foot, on train, or a plane. Either way, the destination is always the same.<\/p>\n<p>When we think in effects, we gain clarity about the actual risks we care about. It&#8217;s how we think naturally, and it&#8217;s how we want to write our risk statements.<\/p>\n<p>After we&#8217;ve identified our risks, we have a few options. We can:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Accept &#8211; It is what it is<\/li>\n<li>Avoid &#8211; Eliminate the odds<\/li>\n<li>Mitigate &#8211; Decrease the impact<\/li>\n<li>Transfer &#8211; Acquire insurance<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And similarly for opportunities, we can:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Accept &#8211; It is what it is<\/li>\n<li>Exploit &#8211; Increase the odds<\/li>\n<li>Enhance &#8211; Increase the impact<\/li>\n<li>Share &#8211; Self explanatory!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>We&#8217;ll discuss these options next.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Some Real Examples about Risk Management<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/money-bag.png\" width=\"162\" height=\"162\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-987518724 aligncenter size-full\" \/><\/strong>Let&#8217;s consider an opportunity rather than a risk. If we can understand how to leverage this framework for the positives, the negatives become much simpler.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Situation<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>You are walking down the street in the evening when someone offers you a gift card worth 100 Euros. The only catch is you have to use it at a specific restaurant. You&#8217;re surprised and ask why they&#8217;re giving the cash away. You&#8217;re told that the individual is leaving the Eurozone in the morning and they have no use for the gift card. They say you looked like a nice person and wanted you to have it. How kind.<\/p>\n<p><em>Let&#8217;s formally structure the opportunity:<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Cause<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Because the stranger is leaving the Eurozone in the morning, they have a gift card worth 100 Euros to give away.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Opportunity<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A gift card worth 100 Euros to use at a specific restaurant<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Effect<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A meal and probably a great evening for free!<\/p>\n<p>So, what are your options?<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Accept &#8211; You could accept the opportunity (don&#8217;t forget to say thanks!)<\/li>\n<li>Enhance (the opposite of mitigate) &#8211; You could try and ask them if they have any extra Euros on them too. They won&#8217;t be able to use those either, right?<\/li>\n<li>Exploit &#8211; Call the restaurant on the spot, ask them to confirm the balance on the card, then reserve a table in an hour.<\/li>\n<li>Share &#8211; Call your loved one and offer a nice surprise (free) meal!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>In this case, sharing the meal would be a nice thing to do. Calling the restaurant on the spot is more than a little rude, and so too is asking the stranger for more money. Accepting the opportunity could be a good and neutral choice.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Tip:\u00a0<\/strong><em>You may be wondering, &#8220;How could we ever arrive at this opportunity from the effect?&#8221; Good question.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>If you had started with &#8220;a free meal and a great evening&#8221;, one of the potential options could be placing yourself in situations where the likelihood of an event like this increases dramatically.<\/p>\n<p>That would be in very public places, preferably near restaurants or transit lines. While this is an extreme example, you can start to see how more realistic effects like &#8220;Business <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/en\/stakeholder-management\/\">stakeholder<\/a> <\/strong>satisfaction&#8221; could lead you to a more limited number of opportunities and risks that can be formally structured. Starting with the effect focuses your thinking.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>General Format<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Entries should be:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Structured<\/strong>\u00a0for an executive audience (in other words, seeing the forest instead of the trees)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Actionable \/ understandable<\/strong>\u00a0by a non-technical audience<\/li>\n<li><strong>Accountable<\/strong> by the action owner<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_button button_url=&#8221;https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/en\/\/?sdm_process_download=1&#038;download_id=987518712&#8243; url_new_window=&#8221;on&#8221; button_text=&#8221;Download the template here&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.25.0&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; custom_button=&#8221;on&#8221; button_text_color=&#8221;#FFFFFF&#8221; button_bg_color=&#8221;#E02B20&#8243; custom_margin=&#8221;||50px||false|false&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The basics of risks management, providing down-to-earth examples. We also offer a free template you can use to list all risks related to your project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[24,83],"class_list":["post-987518675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-project-management-practices","tag-en","tag-fundamental"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987518675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=987518675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987518675\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=987518675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=987518675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pmchampions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=987518675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}