You better put on your protective equipment because reality is about to get messy.
All projects contain risks.
Whew, now that’s out of the way…
As a new project manager in IT, how do you approach the risks surrounding the multitude of projects you will encounter?
You can’t pretend they aren’t there, but you can learn how to manage them.
After all, your team is investing time into an end goal, and someone is paying good money for your team to do so. Therefore, it is ideal for everyone to understand how to handle the positive and negative risks that manifest throughout the course of a project.
Let’s stop for a moment to acknowledge that unexpected events can and will happen. Don’t put yourself and your team through believing you will know everything during the initial risk assessment. If the initial risk analysis shows that the potential benefits outweigh the cost, turn your attention toward implementing the best strategies to manage the risk within it [1, p. 468].
Agile is poised to take on risk management within a project, as it promotes frequent reflection and continuous improvement after each sprint. This week’s discussion specifically highlights a key component of these built-in assessments, and they are called retrospectives. We will discover how retrospectives help teams to adapt to risks in a project format that thrives on uncertainty [1, p. 494].
Graphic: Allison Dunny | Reference: [1, p.468][5] | Created using LucidChart
Agile Retrospective: What They Are
While the word “retrospective” sounds complex, the process itself is not. Retrospectives in Agile are relatively short meetings to assess what occurred during the sprint. While the process seems easy enough, your biggest challenge as a project manager lies in motivating your team to take them seriously and engage.
At the core of this process, the meeting is set at the closing of a sprint for the team to discuss three main points: [2]
What is working?
What is not working?
What do we need to do moving forward?
During the retrospective, action items are documented by the project manager or the Scrum Master. The team proceeds to work on these throughout the next sprint. Future retrospectives explore whether the previous action items have been completed or need to be re-added to the documentation for additional work [1, p. 139][2].
Graphic: Allison Dunny | Reference: [2] | Created using Adobe Illustrator
Agile Retrospective: Facing Risks
How does the process of retrospectives in Agile correlate to risk management?
Retrospective meetings generally go over any strengths and weaknesses of the previous sprint. This is a good start for uncovering and handling risks. Then, another tool we can incorporate into our process is a retrospective that specifically reflects on risks called a risk retrospective.
We will touch upon both in more detail to see why each is important for managing risks within our projects.
Retrospectives
To maximize benefits of every retrospective, your team should be deliberate about risk management. This helps guide your team toward capitalizing on the positive risks and mitigating negative risks [3].
Use the following tips to help keep risk management at the forefront: [3]
Analyze The Sprint
Identify what your team has learned from the previous sprint.
List both positive and negative events.
List strengths and weaknesses of the team.
Involve feedback from project stakeholders.
Determine the impact on the project.
Monitor Processes
Acknowledge how well the team’s current risk management practices are working.
Recognize patterns that have occurred.
Make note of any recurring risks.
Continue to Learn
Express insight toward notable risks.
Learn from experience, not all proposed solutions will work.
Don’t repeat the same mistakes.
Update risk management practices as new strategies are incorporated and proven successful.
Prioritize Improvement
Plan what your team will focus on adjusting.
Add action items to the product backlog if needed.
Collaborate on creating innovative solutions.
Assign responsibility to a team member or indicate all are responsible for making the listed improvement.
Make actions time sensitive to ensure they will not be ignored.
Follow Up with Your Team
Pay attention to the progress that is being made between sprints.
Hold team members accountable for their participation in addressing the action items.
Remove any process that is not working.
Risk Retrospectives
The risk retrospective operates under the same format as a normal retrospective, but their primary purpose is to examine risks in more depth. This could involve evaluating the risks established at the beginning of the project or risks encountered throughout the life of the project. Because of the scope of a risk retrospective, the timing of these meetings can vary. Project stakeholders or the project itself can also indicate the need for a risk retrospective. [4]
General use cases for a risk retrospective are as follows: [4]
When the Project is Complete: This is the most common implementation of a risk retrospective. All known risks of the project are discussed, as well as the effectiveness of how the team responded. Any unexpected occurrences that came up during the project are also analyzed.
After a Significant Risk Event: It is helpful to get the team together after a significant risk event occurs, so that everyone can immediately learn from it while it is still relevant and new. This type of event could be a data breach, loss of finances, or implementation failure.
During Long-Term Projects: This also applies to ongoing projects. Changes to risk management practices are made in real-time, thus assisting in achieving success.
During Audits: Organizations may frequently audit their project management processes. Risk retrospectives can allow for a systematic evaluation of past risk occurrences and allow for general process updates as needed.
Strategy or Organizational Changes: If significant changes are made within the organization, it may be appropriate to hold a risk retrospective to determine if the level of risk exposure has changed, as well as the efficacy of current risk management practices.
Final Thoughts
Starting new projects in IT is inherently risky, but that does not convince businesses to avoid these projects altogether. Instead, IT projects are viewed as a necessary investment for sustainability and improvement. As a project manager, one of the hats you wear involves assessing and accepting a variety of projects that aim to capitalize on the positive risks [1, p. 468].
Because risk is such a critical part of project management, we cannot emphasize enough how your team needs to adopt the best practices for managing it. What we have discussed this week is no exception. The retrospective in Agile Methodology is a powerful tool to leverage in risk management. You should advocate for your team to respect the retrospective, as these meetings promote a group effort toward minimizing risks. This approach also positions your team to quickly adapt to the ambiguity that tends to exist around Agile projects from the beginning.
In using Agile strategies such as retrospectives to our advantage, we are also able to facilitate beneficial conversations with our project stakeholders. Your team continuously collects data through each sprint, assisting your team’s ability to communicate risks and issues more effectively. As you may realize, many projects fail due to poor risk management, but by being proactive about how your team will address this, your team is one step closer to complete project success.
References
[1] K. Schwalbe, et al, Information Technology Project Management, 9th ed., Boston, MA, USA: Cengage, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/b2aef31a-bf2f-4c23-a0fa-63a64a662287/page/758a39896cdf87baf7a6aadddffd418f (Accessed March 27, 2024).
[2] L. Hoory, C. Bottorff. “Agile Retrospective Guide: What Is It & How To Run It.” Forbes. March 27, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/agile-retrospective/ (Accessed March 29, 2024).
[3] S. Goodchild. “Managing Risks in Agile Scrum.” July 4, 2023. Medium. https://medium.com/@simon_95798/managing-risks-in-agile-scrum-6dfd64fd252c (Accessed March 30, 2024).
[4] C. Schwarze. “Risk Management: How to Conduct a Risk Retrospective.” Atlassian Community. June 18, 2023. https://community.atlassian.com/t5/App-Central/Risk-Management-How-to-Conduct-a-Risk-Retrospective/ba-p/2392774 (Accessed March 29, 2024).
[5] Project Management Docs. "Embracing the Upside: The Power of Positive Risks in Project Management." Project Management Docs. March 1, 2023. https://www.projectmanagementdocs.com/blog/positive-risks/ (Accessed March 30, 2024).
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