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Uncertainty – A risk or an opportunity?

Examples of project risks during a project.
A woman on the phone rests her head in her hand and looks deep in thought.
Some examples of project risk areas are described below.

Stakeholders and requirements

  • Important stakeholders not identified
  • Stakeholders’ needs and expectations are not identified or neglected
  • Requirements are not specified

Competence and skills

  • The project team has insufficient competence and skills in project management
  • The steering committee has insufficient competence and skills in project management
  • The project team lacks necessary understanding how to manage a specific project context

Information and data

  • Difficult to get access to information and data
  • Poor quality of information and data
  • Difficult to structure and analyse a vast amount of information and data

Project organization and collaboration

  • Poor teamwork and group dynamics
  • Poor collaboration between project team and project stakeholders
  • Unclear roles and responsibilities in the project organization

Scope, time and resources

  • Too comprehensive or vague scope
  • Fixed (i.e. not flexible) project constraints concerning scope, time and cost limits
  • Too scarce resources

Planning

  • Too little time and effort devoted for making up and use the project plan
  • Too superficial work breakdown structure, i.e. unclear scope
  • Too little time and effort devoted for managing risks and opportunities
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Plan for Project Success: Project Planning and Management:

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FutureLearn - Learning For Life

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