In today’s article, Monty Python together with Hermann Hesse will help us define what we realistically want to achieve with risk management tools for our project and why the planning phase of a project is nothing but sheer magic – if you look at it close enough.
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise!
Cardinal Ximenes has generously agreed to open today’s article. In the previous entry, we discussed how the unfortunate absence of a crystal ball impedes us from straight away ruling out these unlikely birds of a feather: white swans that won’t fly and black swans that won’t stop showing up.
The first step in dealing with any issue is the radical acceptance of it for what it is: we cannot foresee the future and we will never be able to. Period. The only way to operate in a completely risk-free environment would be to stay within the known. This is not viable – or at the very least, very boring. Au contraire, we want to embark on risky ventures, and we want to try new approaches, launch new products, and generally try out new things – not only because this is more or less a school-book definition of development, but also because the risk comes with the promise of a higher gain and the upside is virtually unlimited. As humans respond to incentives, it is only natural that we want to keep that upside of what the future holds for us while limiting the downside. So, what we actually aim to avoid when talking about unexpected turns and twists within a project, is being taken off guard, caught empty-handed, and in the worst scenario – with our pants down at the same time. Thus, to disarm the Spanish Inquisition in the shape and form of an escalating error cost, our prime strategy aims to rule out the surprise component and ensure that we are prepared.
Luckily for us, there are two stages within a project life that seem to be created exactly for this purpose, and these are planning and testing. And today we will start looking closer at planning.
Planning Phase: A magic dwells in each beginning (H. Hesse)
As a cheesy yet to-the-point saying goes – failing to plan is planning to fail. Nonetheless, the planning phase is one of the most underleveraged phases of a project: time often seems infinite, and more pressing issues occupy the mind. However, the planning stage of a project is more than just a great opportunity to go through some drills and get to know the project team in an informal setup. Realistically, this is your most probable chance to bake in routines early in the project life that will be fully ingrained in the body of the project by the time you need them the most.
These routines will help you stay prepared and be utterly unsurprised should things start going south at some point, don’t want to fly or the fifth dimension opens right in front of you. In the planning phase of a project, the status quo is in the process of being negotiated, and this is the beauty and the magic of this phase. To some extent, one can think of this stage as a blank slate, a freshly unpacked canvas, or a chessboard at the very opening of a new game. The room for maneuvering is the largest you will ever have until the end of the project as with every decision you will be taking or with every milestone achieved, you will be naturally limiting or even cutting off the potential development paths. At this stage you are laying the foundation and the ground structure for the way things will be done and issues addressed. The power is sitting right in front of you and is up for grabs!
Finally, at this conceptual phase in the project life you are encouraged and still have some time on your hands to take a step back, reflect and ponder – a luxury, you will most likely not have during, say, implementation (let alone the value of pondering will never be just as high).
The outcome for the phase ideally includes:
Speaking of such routines – as a next step, let us look at one of the tools at your disposal.
