Reducing Unwelcome Surprises in Project Management Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Several Project Managers and sponsors are baffled when project goes off-track. Numerous questions pop up related to their near-sightedness. Even projects that employ precarious techniques for risk management cause surprising derailments.

Risk Management can only look after known risks and "unknown unknowns"(often called "unk-unks") are remain hidden in every project.

The writers argue, nonetheless, that many unk-unks aren't really unk-unks at all.

Instead, they're things no one has bothered to find out. Truly, the writers point out, there are two types of unknowns: unknown unknowns (things we don't understand we don't know) and understood unknowns (things we know we do not know). Every job has some of both. The techniques of risk management that is standard, apply just to the known unknowns. But some unk-unks may be converted into known unknowns through a process of recognition that was directed. The article offers a synopsis of the targets, strategies and tools of guided recognition -the where, why and how. First, the writers introduce six job realms in and around a job where doubt dwells (and where recognition should occur). Second, the authors describe the characteristics that increase doubt in jobs and clarify why they make unk-unks more likely.

Eventually, they present a set of techniques for converting knowable unk-unks into known unknowns. Although unk-unks are by definition things supervisors don't realize they're missing, it is potential, the authors say, to look at a project and its circumstance and comprehend that unk-unks will likely exist -and why. Large, complicated projects are more inclined to strike unk-unks than modest, straightforward jobs. The more complex a job seems to the project manager and other participants, the larger the probability that something important will be missed, subsequently increasing the probability of unk-unks. Organizations that actively look to uncover unk-unks are more inclined to convert them into known unknowns. By giving guidance on where and why unk-unks exist in projects, and how to recognize their clues, supervisors can reduce the amount and magnitude of unwanted surprises.

Reducing Unwelcome Surprises in Project Management Case Study Solution

PUBLICATION DATE: April 01, 2015 PRODUCT #: SMR521-HCB-ENG

This is just an excerpt. This case is about LEADERSHIP & MANAGING PEOPLE