Resilient risk management in agile projects

Risk management is essential for all projects and industries, but it’s important to build a continuing risk management process to be resilient, especially when taking into account our constantly changing environment (COVID, wars and political movements, large-scale involuntary migration, climate crisis, etc.), changing legislation requirements, evolving trends on the diversity, digital disruption, labor shortages and demographical shifts.

It’s crucially important for both company management and project managers to track changes in order to respond promptly to potential threats and unexpected changes. This includes analyzing the severity of potential issues, their likelihood of occurring, and devising strategies to address or mitigate them, as resilience relates to both organizational processes and project teams.

When it comes to agile projects, risk management is a subset of general risk management but is tailored to align with the principles and practices of the agile methodology. In agile risk management, the approach is highly adaptable and iterative. Risk identification and mitigation processes take place consistently throughout the life cycle of the project, as agile actively accepts changes and appreciates feedback. Consequently, this openness can potentially give rise to the emergence of new risks.

Considering the active usage of AI over the past year, AI-driven risk identification and forecasting can be implemented. AI can assess these risks by analyzing data from previous projects, eliminating much of the uncertainty involved. Through algorithms, AI can evaluate the probability and impact of risks, offering a quantitative measure of risk. This aids in identifying which risks should be addressed immediately and which can be postponed until more information is available. By prioritizing risks according to their potential effects on project objectives, agile teams can use a data-driven approach to make informed decisions about risk mitigation strategies.

Furthermore, project managers are increasingly faced with risks linked to diversity and inclusion initiatives. They strive to establish an inclusive culture that appreciates and supports all employees, while also trying to build diverse project teams that possess a wide range of skills, cultural backgrounds and experiences. You can read more about the diversity and inclusion in project management to figure out what actions can be taken to mitigate this risk.

Having an overview on the most affected project cases in agile projects like scope creep, missed deadlines, insufficient user involvement, legal and compliance issues, ineffective communication, poor quality deliverables, ineffective change control, insufficient user involvement, project managers should be aware about the relevant processes, techniques and tools, documents that can mitigate raised risks.

Knowing project management, integration management, change managements, risk management, project quality management, project stakeholder management is highly recommended as well as using agile project management and communication software, requirements management tools, version control systems, continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) Tools, prototyping and wireframing tools, test automation framework and test driven development.

To summarise, the key aspects of resilience in the project management can be the following:

Identify and manage risks
Be prepared for unexpected issues
Adapt plans as needed
Maintain open and transparent team and stakeholders communication, and involve stakeholders for support
Efficiently allocate time, budget, and personnel
Analyze errors to prevent recurrence
Use relevant project management software for real-time tracking
Handle stress and conflicts with empathy
Continuously monitor and seek ways to improve