“As we know, there are known-knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known-unknowns. That is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown-unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know.” - Donald Rumsfeld, US Defence Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld’s attempt to describe living with unknown-unknowns will be familiar to most Project Managers but The Association for Project Management (APM), the chartered body for the project profession, has a Project Risk Management Single Subject Certificate qualification which is designed to build on the knowledge gained in the APM Project Management Qualification (PMQ) or similar project management qualifications
The identification and management of risks relating to a project is an absolute corner stone of the successful delivery of any project. Risks when they occur, affect all the key areas of the Cost, Time and Quality measures that are set when the Business Case is developed, and the Project Baseline is set.
Poor Risk Management is the single most common failure of projects – either failure to identify or to mitigate against a risk. the identification and management of risks is a continual activity which must performed throughout the life of the project It is also a continually changing landscape with risks appearing and disappearing at every stage of the project lifecycle.
Risk Management is possibly the most important technique in a Project Manager’s toolkit and shouldn’t be left to risk specialists. Whilst the APM Risk 1 Certificate covers the basics, many would argue that demonstrating a full knowledge of the management of risk means that the Risk 2 Certificate should be the benchmark for any Project Manager – and is an important accompaniment to the APM’s Project Management Qualification (PMQ).
The Risk 2 Syllabus includes:
The general risk environment in terms of risk definition, project risk and individual risk events
The benefits of managing risk using a robust process
The principles of risk and opportunity management
The risk management process
Risk organisation and control
Key behavioural aspects of risk management
Application of Project Risk Analysis and Management
Risk identification techniques
Qualitative risk analysis
Quantitative risk analysis
Responding to risk
Undertaking the APM’s Risk 1 Certificate isn’t a pre-requisite for undertaking the Risk 2 Certificate so experienced Project Managers can go directly to this benchmark qualification. Of course, attending Risk 1 first – or undertaking it by eLearning before attending a Risk 2 course will always be beneficial.
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