Risk Management Vs. Fighting Fires

Far too many projects crash and burn as a result of risks that could have been avoided. An even higher proportion of projects don't take advantage of positive risks that could shorten duration and/or decrease costs. Why this hesitancy to engage in risk management?

The image of project managers as skilled "firefighters" often gets in the way. I've had more than one discussion with executives who want us to train their project managers to be good at fighting fires. I always suggest that the organization will benefit much more from having project managers who are skilled at identifying risks and planning responses to them. The response I often get is that risk management takes too much time and will slow things down.

Take a look at this sample video from our 1-on-1 project training courses and see if these lean and agile risk management processes make sense to you.