Chapter 5 Ideas: BUS-528-PRJM-Module03-Ch05-06

Study Ideas generated from The Fast Forward MBA 3rd Edition by EricVerzuh:
[CALMAT: BUS-528-PRJM-Chapter 05~06]

Module- 3 Chapter - 5: Risk Management: Minimize The Threats to Your Project
(July 10) Chapter- 6: Work Breakdown Structure: Break Your Project into
Manageable Units of Work
Ideas Leaned:
1. Risk vs. Risk Management
Project, like Life, is full of uncertainty means Risk. Risk exists in all level of the project management cycle regardless good or bad which may or may not be predictable or controllable, but it is possible can be managed to preventing failure, reducing damage and to increasing the likelihood of meeting projected objective, systematically.

2. ‘Systematic’ and ’Control’ in Risk Management
All project management is Risk management, all project management activities are Risk that can be construed as managing Risk. It is the primary
job of a Project manager consciously perform to identify and manage risk on
the project in depth of project definition, planning and control phases.

The frameworks of the Risk Management process are to:
- Identify Risk that threaten project objectives systematically
- Analyze and prioritize the potential damage and probability of Risk
- Develop a response with strategies for reducing or transferring possible risk
- Establish reserves of additional funding for unexpected know-unknown risk
- Continue Risk management, Risk strategies needed to be fine-tuning as they
are put into effects of those changes on the project, systematically.

The key words are ‘Systematic’ and ‘Control’, the more disciplined the more able to control and reduce the Risk (uncertainty).

3. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
A tool to breaking down a project into its better understanding and manageable component parts to success the project at minimum Risk level. WBS is a Top-Down decomposition techniques to breaking down the task at a hierarchy structure starting at the Top node to a lower level of sub-tasks.

There are two kinds of tasks on a WBS:
- Summary Task; a meaningful summarization for the Scope of the Project
and its subordinate Work Package, is visible and is for a
purpose of communication and tracking to some of the
stockholders including project manager.
- Work Package; consists with actual executable project activities for an
outcome which being identified and named within the
Summary Task.




4. Key to Success
The Key to success a project is yet not limited are:
- break the project into a small, meaningful and manageable unit of work,
smaller task tends to have less uncertainty leading to more accurate outcome
- keep Work Package Size under the 8/80 rule and set the reporting period rule
no longer than the distance between to status points.
- use ‘if it‘s useful’ rule to break task down further for easier to estimate, to
assign, and to track, if is useful.

5. Acceptance Process
Without an Acceptance, final delivery is not equal a final product.

For a smooth Acceptance process to complete the Project, additional tasks of
training, initial new product start-up and post implementation assessment need
to be considered to add onto the WBS at the early stage of the project to
provide a smooth Turnover tasks at the end of the Project.