风险与问题in Project Management

今天我们将讨论风险和问题。

Risk managementis an integral part of project management, and risk and issue are常见的风险管理术语that many professionals think are the same, which is incorrect.

Therefore, I am writing this blog post to help you understand the difference between issues and risks.

I hope this post will help you understand the difference between the two and how to best deal with issues and risks.

风险与问题

We will look at risks vs issues, identify them, and how you can mitigate or resolve these problems as they arise.

Risk

风险是不确定的事件或状况，发生后，至少会影响一个项目目标。A risk is often associated with negative outcomes, such as missed deadlines or budget overruns. Risks can be positive and bring opportunities for your project.

风险管理不仅仅是制定计划minimize the probability and impact of negative risksbut alsomaximizing the chance or impact of positive risks。

There are three key steps in risk management:

• Risk Identification:这涉及确定风险并根据其可能性和影响对其进行分类。
• Risk Response Planning:Once risks have been identified, you need to develop a plan to deal with them.
• Monitoring and Controlling: Here, you ensure that risk response plans are implemented as planned.

You have many tools and techniques for risk identification and response planning, including brainstorming,因果图，，，，expected monetary value (EMV)和决策树。您可以根据项目需求量调整方法，并使用最合适的工具。

无论您的计划如何，该项目都会有风险。了解风险可以使您最大程度地减少对项目的任何负面影响的机会。

Types of Risk in Project Management

There are varioustypes of risk在项目管理中：

• 技术风险：这些是指项目中使用的技术可能无法按计划使用的可能性。例如，该项目中首次使用的新软件程序可能无法正常运行。
• Managerial Risks:These risks include internal factors, such as poor communication between team members. This can often slow down a project or even cause it to fail altogether.
• 业务/赞助风险：Business risk can change the company’s goals and priorities and jeopardize your project. This usually happens during times of company restructuring or mergers and acquisitions.
• Financial Risk:Financial risks typically refer to possible monetary loss, for example, inaccurate cost estimation, an overly optimistic budget, etc.
• Organizational Risks:These include risks like a project not receiving the necessary support from stakeholders to be completed successfully.
• Reputational Risk:当项目受到对您公司的影响很差的事物（例如丑闻或其他与道德有关的问题）的影响时，这种情况就会发生。
• Strategic Risk:Strategic risks affect an organization’s core and cause it to lose potential customers if not resolved in time. For example, a competitor could enter the market and take away your share.
• Performance Risk:这是当项目的实际结果不同from what was initially intended. It results from the project team not meeting the set deadlines or goals.
• Schedule Risk:这是指由于测试时间不足而延迟项目的风险。
• Scope Risks:范围风险直接与您的产品或服务有关，如果不仔细管理，可能会影响其质量。例如，添加新功能而不经过更改管理过程可能会延迟毛刺产品的释放。
• Operational Risk:这种风险是您的团队在项目期间无法应对意外事件的可能性。例如，由于工作地点的破坏，团队成员在地震期间无法工作。
• 资源风险：These refer to factors such as insufficient or unqualified staff members, which could cause delays in your project due to their inability to meet deadlines.
• Environmental Risks:These are risks posed by external factors, such as natural disasters or political instability in a certain region.

问题

An issue in project management refers to any problem or current obstacle that could prevent the project from achieving its objectives. An issue has either already happened or is happening at the moment.

A project can have many issues, and you must prepare to deal with them. Some common issues in project management are:

• Communication gaps among team members.
• Conflicting goals or objectives among team members.
• Unclear roles and responsibilities among team members.
• 团队成员之间解决问题的无效。
• Lack of coordination between different departments or teams.
• Inability to meet deadlines or milestones.
• Poor planning and execution.

You have to deal with these issues when they arise. This may includebackup plans, fallback options，，，，contingency budgets和时间表。通过准备问题，您可以减少他们引起问题的机会。

当出现问题时，重要的是要确定根本原因以及如何处理解决问题。您可能需要调整时间表或更改一些project deliverablesto correct any problems.

Differences Between Risks and Issues

The key differences between risks and issues in project management are:

You cannot eliminate risks, although you can mitigate them differently. Existing problems should be identified during planning to fix them before they become problems.

风险通常是由外部因素引起的，而问题主要是该项目的内部因素。例如，供应商可能不会按时提供关键组件，而问题可能是团队错过了其截止日期。

Risks are future-focused, while issues have already occurred. This means that risks are events that may or may not happen, but they could impact the project if they do occur. Issues have already happened, and you must address them as soon as possible.

Risks can be either positive or negative, while issues negatively impact projects.

The response to risks and issues is different. Risk management seeks to eliminate the probability of negative events.

另一方面，问题管理试图通过为项目中的问题提供解决方案来解决或减少已经发生的影响。通过风险管理流程来处理风险，而问题通过问题管理流程进行管理。

Risks cost money, while issues can cost money and time. Risks need to be monitored and responded to, which requires resources; while issues have already impacted the project, you must fix them immediately.

可以通过概率和影响来量化和衡量风险，而问题不能。

There is a difference in the documentation needed for risks and issues. Risks must be documented in arisk register，，，，while issues can be tracked on a defect tracker or problem log.

Not all risks will become issues. However, tracking and monitoring risks closely is important, as they may become issues.

如果在风险计划中未发现任何问题，则可以管理through a workaround。

Documenting Risks and Issues in Project Management

Risks and issues are documented in different ways in project management. The level of detail in this documentation can vary depending on the size and complexity of the project and the organization’s risk management procedures.

在ris风险数据可以记录k log or register, which has the following information:

• 风险的全名
• Description of the risk
• Impacts expected
• 您想拥有解决方案的日期
• 缓解技术

A project manager can use an issue register orissue logto track issues. The following information can be found in an issue register:

• The log’s date
• The problem’s description
• Steps and actions to take
• Updates on the progress
• 评估效果
• Date and details of the resolution

While documenting risks and issues, you should include all relevant information. Remember that precision is key when documenting risks and issues in project management.

Risk Example

风险的一个例子如下：

John works for a construction company as a project manager. While compiling the business plan, he evaluates the project risk. He realizes that his team might not complete the construction on time with the current schedule. He wants to handle this risk since the client’s deadline is critical.

He develops a risk response plan for the risk. He calculates that they will finish on time if he adds another team member to the project. He informs his crew of the modification, and they complete the project on time.

问题Example

To be an effective project manager, it is important to know the different issues that can occur during a project.

Here is an example of an issue:

胡佛软件是一家跨国软件公司。克里斯蒂娜（Christina）领导着一个新设计的项目经理。她制定了时间表和预算，但现在得知由于沟通效率低下，团队成员缺少任务截止日期。她记录了公司问题日志中的问题，并制定了一种新的通信策略。

She decides to prioritize communication in a variety of ways. To begin, she schedules a weekly meeting in the middle of each team member’s shift so everyone can participate. She also introduces a new online communication tool that members can use anytime. She makes it easier for everybody to communicate effectively and accomplish duties on schedule by posting all tasks online.

为什么要单独记录和管理问题和风险

• 风险需要一个单独的反应。他们有差异rent responses to positive and negative risks. In contrast, issues are mostly negative and require纠正措施。
• Risks and issues are separate, so they must have different mechanisms to deal with them. Issues are events that have occurred, while risks are events that can occur in the future.
• 积极的风险管理确保该项目的问题很小。
• 问题是手头的问题，对它们进行管理对于防止它们影响您的项目是必要的。
• If your project is experiencing many issues, it indicates that your risk management plan was not sound.

Assumption and Constraint Vs Risk and Issue

Since we are discussing issues and risks, you should know two more terms you might encounter along with risk and issues:assumptions and constraints。

• Assumptions are conditions that are supposed to be true. If these assumption terms turn false, they may become risks and issues.
• Constraints are limitations imposed on the project. If they turn false, they would be beneficial for the project. These constraints can sometimes change to risks or issues.

Conclusion

A project manager needs to have a plan in place for risk management. If you are not prepared for risks, they can become issues.

In conclusion, understanding these two terms lets you address them better and helps you complete the project with fewer hurdles.

Here is where this post on risk vs issue ends.

Note that this topic is important from a PMP exam point of view.

Please share your experience handling issues and risks on your project through the comments section.