Project Risks

Deliverable Length:  400–600 words 

As with everything else in our lives, the way in which projects are managed has evolved and will continue to evolve as technology and customer demands and expectations change. Whether you are managing a local or an international project, culture usually shapes the way in which organizations transform themselves and the way in which team members work with one another. Despite cultural differences, a PM must recognize these differences and learn how to appraise cultural issues to avoid pitfalls that could impact the delivery of the project.

Agile project management has been one of the most important emerging trends in project management. It is about doing more with less, working with the customer side by side, delivering something to the customer on a constant basis, working as a focused team, and managing change better. Agile is gaining more attraction in the technology sector but has recently been used in non-IT sectors.

Communications management is the processes required to ensure timely and appropriate generation, collection, dissemination, storage, and ultimate disposition of project information. Plan communications management is the process of developing an appropriate approach and plan for project communications based on stakeholders’ information needs and requirements and available organizational assets. Alternatively, risk management is the process of managing negative or positive project risks to ensure the heath and wealth of project status and delivery. It includes the process of conducting risk management planning, identification, analysis, response planning, and controlling project risks. 

• Based on your readings and research, explain the general difference between the agile and waterfall (traditional) project management methods. Why would you use one method over the other? Name and describe one of the agile methods you came across.      
• Why is it important to manage project communications? How would you go about preparing a project communications management plan? What information would you want to account for and include, and why? 
• Why is it important to create a risk register to identify and manage project risks as soon as a project is assigned to you? What are the differences between negative project risks and positive project risks? Provide examples of each. What are some of the strategies to handle either risk type?