Here's how you can navigate risks and uncertainties to achieve project success.

Gather your project team to brainstorm potential risks. Consider all aspects of the project, including scope, timeline, budget, resources, and external factors. Review past projects to identify common risks. Learning from previous experiences can help anticipate similar issues. Seek input from subject matter experts and stakeholders to identify risks that may not be immediately obvious. Group risks into categories such as technical, financial, operational, legal, and external. This helps in understanding the nature and source of each risk. Identify whether risks are internal (within the project team’s control) or external (outside the project team’s control). This helps in developing appropriate mitigation strategies.

Small Increments: Agile projects are divided into small, manageable increments called sprints (typically 1-4 weeks). This allows for regular reassessment and adjustment based on current conditions. Early Delivery: Delivering functional parts of the project early and frequently reduces the risk of large-scale failures and provides early value to stakeholders. Regular Reviews: At the end of each sprint, the team reviews progress with stakeholders. This ensures that any deviations from expectations are identified early and can be corrected in the next iteration. Adaptation: Feedback is used to adapt the project plan. Continuous feedback loops help in identifying potential risks and addressing them promptly.

I find it helpful to develop a dashboard to keep communication both consistent and meaningful to all stakeholders. Provide highlights, goals met as well as any roadblocks/need attention items. Action items with key stakeholders should be shared with those impacted prior to dashboard delivery.

Conduct regular reviews of the project’s progress. This can be done at the end of each sprint in agile projects or at predetermined milestones in traditional project management. Lessons Learned Sessions: Hold formal lessons learned sessions where the team discusses what went well, what didn’t, and why. This helps identify recurring issues and successes. Retrospectives: Use retrospectives to reflect on the recent work period. Discuss risks that have emerged, issues encountered, and unexpected challenges. Risk Logs: Maintain a risk log to document identified risks, their impact, and their likelihood. Regularly update this log to reflect new insights and information.

All the above mitigations are crucial, however, the most important risk mitigation in my opinion is having the right leadership approach. The right leadership approach is one that is able to constantly tune-in and adapt to internal and external influences. Leadership needs to be visible, intentional, and establish open, two-way lines of communication with stakeholders, while adjusting plans and mitigations accordingly.