This short book packs a lot of punch. The book is easy to read and because of its small size do not deter people from reading.
Since getting this book, the reviewer has frequently referred to two of its concepts in his course on Risk Management in Masters of Project Management degree. First is the definition of risk that differentiates between Risk and Uncertainty by defining “risk as an uncertainty that matters” and secondly the concept of risk management being “Built in Vs Bolt On”.
Risk in project context is usually defined as a chance of something happening that may have an impact on project objectives. This definition is technically correct however it may slightly be onerous to understanding for some. Another confusion that may arise is the relationship between risk and uncertainty. The definition proposed by the author in the book”Risk is an uncertainty that matters makes it very easy to understand the relationship between risk and uncertainty”. “That matters” succinctly summarises everything: objectives, work break down structure, internal context, external context, etc. The idea is to identify the risk under some context in order to make sure risks are not identified out of context else they are of no use. There may be a lot of events that are uncertain however if they do not matter; they should not be identified as risks.
The discussion on risk management as “Built in Vs Bolt ‐on” provide a clear argument that risk management will not succeed if it is purchased/implemented as a “Bolt ‐on”. If the risk management is just added on to the existing systems which portray the meaning of “Bolt ‐on”, it may not be an effective arrangement and chances that it will fail will be huge. For the successful implementation risk management needs to be “Built in” “the system to compliment the existing system. The reviewer has found that the discussion on “Built in Vs Bolt on” gets the message across very clearly.
The book has provided a comparison of various risk management standards in a tabular format (Table 3.2) and distributing this one page among reviewer's post graduate students has been very popular. In just one page, they are able to find out various existing risk management standards and are also able to compare various processes that are involved in these standards.
The book makes a good representation of project, program and portfolio management and how risk management needs to be undertaken at each level. This helps to remove a lot of ambiguity when it comes to know how projects are connected to programs and programs to portfolio and how the risk should supposed to be managed at each level yet keeping it holistic.
The lack of case studies and examples in this book may be an issue but it has never been the intention of this book. The students and readers looking for detailed examples of risk management plans may have to consult other resources. This book is very helpful in getting across the concept of risk management and to find out if this is the area one would like to involve in more or what processes that generally form a part of risk management?
Chapter 1 explains uncertainty and risk and relationship between the two. The chapter ends by explaining that not all uncertainty is risk but all risks are uncertain.
Chapter 2 discuss the risk in relation to projects and explain why projects are inherently risky and why risk management is critically important for successful project outcome.
Chapter 3 outlines a structured approach to risk management and risk breakdown structure (RBS) approach as shown in Figure 3.3 is very effective. Through this breakdown it is possible to put together a bigger picture for overall risks in a project.
Chapter 4 discusses the risk attitudes and their influence on key points in risk process (Table 4.2).
Chapter 5 discusses the integration of risk management with wider project management and this is where a concept of “Built‐ in” Vs “Bolt‐ on” as mentioned above is discussed.
Chapter 6 titled as “The bigger picture” does explain risk management in the context of bigger picture which means in relation of a project to a program and a program to that of a portfolio and a portfolio to that of mission/strategy/vision.
Chapter 7 provides practical suggestions in order to make sure risk management works. A new approach called “Risk Engergetics” is presented for this purpose. The basic idea is that there needs to be a certain kind of energy or level of engagement that needs to be kept through the process of risk management in order to make it work effectively.
