Broadleaf presents at PMI Australia’s conference

Grant Purdy and Steve Grey both presented at this week's Project Management Institute conference in Melbourne.

They also contributed as experts to a risk management roundtable discussion on the third day of the conference, which Grant chaired.

Grant talked about the true purpose of risk management in projects. He described how the risk management process should be integrated into project processes and gave examples using decision points and assurance processes. Grant emphasised the value of an effective risk management framework and the vital purpose of a coherent risk management plan.

He concluded by saying that managing risk effectively ensures projects achieve desired outcomes and supports the achievement of an organisation’s objectives. Risk management should therefore be a dynamic activity that supports decisions and makes sure the important controls or enablers are in place and effective at all times. He warned that ineffective risk management leads to a false sense of security and does not create value.

A copy of Grant's presentation can be found here

Steve spoke about common methods for evaluating project contingencies and outlined serious flaws in those that are based solely on risk events or line item ranges. He described the risk factor approach that overcomes these deficiencies making the process more realistic and less arduous. The presentation includes diagrams illustrating how the method might be applied to IT and to construction projects.

He went on to explain how a careful approach can reduce the difficulty of obtaining estimates of uncertain quantities and yield more realistic assessments of the range of possible outcomes they might produce. It is based on attention to the context of the assessment and techniques that limit the danger of bias. Taken together, risk factor modelling and context based range estimation reduce the burden on analysts and their clients while at the same time producing more realistic and informative results.

A copy of Steve's presentation can be found here

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