PMP: Risk & Uncertainty

Articles

Andre Malowney writing at a desk, working through project management reference texts and printed process diagrams

Practical thinking for project professionals

Articles on project delivery, governance, risk, predictive, Agile and hybrid practice, alongside a growing PMP® knowledge library for professionals preparing for the current exam.

The PMBOK 8 Risk Performance Domain: What It Really Covers

Most projects reduce risk management to a scored spreadsheet reviewed once a month. The domain in PMBOK 8 is considerably wider, and the widest parts are the ones that change decisions.

Plan Risk Management Before Listing Risks

Most risk registers fail before a single risk is written down, because nobody agreed what counts, who owns it, or what a score is supposed to mean on this project.

Monte Carlo Analysis: What It Tells You and What It Doesn’t

A single finish date hides how much of the plan had to go right to produce it. Simulation puts a probability on the commitment, and a limit on how far you should trust it.

Decision Trees Without the Headache

A decision tree is taught as arithmetic and used as a conversation. Its real output is usually not the number at the end but the argument it forces about the numbers.

Threats and Opportunities: Risk Is Not Always Negative

Everyone can recite that risk includes opportunity. Almost no register contains one, because thresholds, reporting and ownership were all built for loss.

Tailoring Risk Management to the Project

Two projects of similar size and budget can justifiably run risk management at very different intensities. Here is how to decide which setting yours needs, and which parts of the process to move.