Risk management for the Agile world

Nik Silver for Agile Cambridge 2015http://niksilver.com

@pigsaw

This workshop• What’s in it for me?• A more constructive approach to

“risks”• Group exercises• From uncertainties to actions

What’s in it for me?

The risk registerDe

scrip

tion

Actio

n

Owne

r

A bad thing that might happen

Categories of action

Hardware will arrive too late

Order hardware in good time

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Do your job properly

Categories of action

Supplier insufficiently skilled

Supplier has been selected via rigorous process

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We’ve dealt with it

Categories of action

Loss of intellectual property

Contractual constraints

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Denial

How to look at risks* more constructively

* So-called “risks”

Two recent “risks”• Our boss might not like it• Our competitor releases in Germany

first

1. Flip it round• Risk… or opportunity?• Let’s be ready to exploit that• Let’s be open to doing better than

planned

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1. Flip it round• Our boss might not like it–…or he might

• Our competitor releases in Germany first–…or we might

2. Find the variability• Look past the “risk event”• There are gradations of badness…

and goodness

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2. Find the variability• Our boss might not like it–…or he might slightly dislike it–…and he may change his mind next

week• Our competitor releases in Germany

first–…by one year, three months, 24

hours…?

3. Zoom out• It’s not a single, isolated thing• It’s got fuzzy edges• Zoom out to see the larger whole

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3. Zoom out• The unhappy boss– Isn’t this really about… stakeholder

engagement?• Our competitor releases in Germany

first–What about features, pricing,

marketing…?–What about the next time?– Isn’t this really about… time to market?

“a risk”, “risks”

uncertaintyrisk

Warm-up exercise

Let’s rethink some so-called risks…

Warm-up exercise“Failure of client to pay fees”

US engineering company wants to provide water treatment facilities in

China

Warm-up exercise“Regulators decide to regulate VCs but the chosen regulatory approach fails”

European Banking Authority document on governance and

regulation of virtual currencies (VCs).

Warm-up exercise“The policy design for some aspects of the future organisation is incomplete. [...] So risk that Bill proceeds on the basis of incomplete/flawed design”

Leaked document on Andrew Lansley’s 2012 NHS reforms

Exercise• Look at the business case and risks• Turn each “risk” into an uncertainty– Flip it round– Find the variability– Zoom out. Isn’t this really about…?

From uncertainties to actions

The ideal: Change the way we operate

• Change the process• Change the environment

• Because that “risk” is part of a larger thing

• This requires imagination

Changing the way we operate• The unhappy boss– Continuous stakeholder engagement

• Our competitor releases in Germany first– Improve time to market, consistently

• Customer who might not pay on time– Incentivise early (or advance) payment

This is hard

Zooming out, finding themes

Summary• “A risk” à Uncertainty• Zoom out• Handle by changing the process

• Where next:– Matthew Leitch– Intelligent Internal Control and Risk Management– http://www.workinginuncertainty.co.uk

http://niksilver.com@pigsaw