Section Summary – Communicating Project Risks

In the previous few chapters in this section we learnt about project risk communication process. Let us now quickly summarize what we have learnt so far.

• After we identify risks, the next logical step is to communicate those identified risks to all stakeholders and this is the purpose of this communicate project risks process
• Though project communications management is not directly a part of project risk management knowledge area, communicating risks and regular updates to all key stakeholders is an integral part of risk management
• Psychological factors can influence peoples attitude towards risk which in turn can affect their risk tolerance
• Peoples risk attitudes can be broadly classified into 4: Risk Averse, Risk Tolerant, Risk Neutral and Risk Seeking
• People usually resist change (risks) when it threatens their level of comfort or control or if they are unfamiliar with the change
• Risk Tolerance is defined as the degree, amount or volume of risk an individual or organization will withstand
• The Stakeholder Register and Stakeholder Management Strategy can help us greatly in managing stakeholder expectations in terms of risk communications
• We cannot please or satisfy all stakeholders. So, a smart manager will classify stakeholders and identify the high influence/power category and keep them satisfied as much as possible
• Most stakeholders will require only high level information
• The information that we share with different categories of stakeholders will depend on their interest in the project, influence on the project and a variety of other factors. Simply put “Not everyone wants everything”
• Risk Management Plan usually contains templates and reporting formats that we must use for the different categories of stakeholders

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