Risk Management on a Satellite Development Project

Risk Management on Satellite Development Project
Student`s Name
Institution of Affiliation
Abstract
Project risk management is an essential aspect of modern project management practices. Projects always face the challenge of managing the constraints of cost, time and scope. Additionally, the quality of the project should be top-notch and adequate resources provided. Today`s project management approaches aim to optimizing performance for more efficiency because of the many variables involved. The risks associated with project management include not spending enough time planning and the risk of not running a thorough enough risk management plan. We are going to analyze the risk management approaches taken by Satellite Development Project and ways to improve the project`s risk plan. We will determine the impacts of risks in a project. We will also look the risk management in a broader scope and the best practices today. Here we can determine the methodology and techniques of assessing risks as well as the level of risk management appropriate for a project. Finally, we have to answer the hypothetical questions relating to the case study.
Keywords: Project Risk Management, Project Implementation.
Risk Management on Satellite Development Project
Introduction
Risks are inevitable when dealing with a project. It can vary from financial loss, accident or project failure as there are numerous ways in which a plan can go wrong. Additionally, even the most straightforward activity can turn into unexpected problems.

It is the work of the project manager to identify possible risks and put in possible ways of minimizing these risks as well as dealing with them as they come. Project managers are faced with the problem of balancing cost, time and scope. Consequently, they need to make sure the project quality is upheld and the resources adequate. An example of an everyday risk is not having enough time or personnel. We are going to analyze the risks faced by team members in a satellite development project and the associated risk management theories as well as answering the first four questions relating to the study.
A risk plan shows how to deal with specific risks and what risk managing actions to be undertaken to minimize these threats to the projects. The presence of a risk management plan gives the project management team a way of managing risk by identifying, analyzing and responding to the risks around and within the project. Additionally, a risk plan entails the frequency in which risk management planning will be done for a project (Burke, 2013). A risk plan includes the methodology to be used to manage risk and identifies the owners of the risks and their responsibilities in managing those risks.
The benefits of having a risk plan are vital to any project as the program makes it easy to spot trouble as one can see where projects need attention. It also reduces the number of surprises in a plan as early awareness of potential threats means that intervention can be made before the problem becomes too severe (Rolstadas, Tommelein, Morten& Ballard, 2014). Project managers can acquire better quality data for decision making. The information available is in real time because it is continuously updated. Risk management enhances communication among those involved in the project through discussion hence creating a more positive working relationship with the stakeholders. It also helps create a more accurate estimate of the budget and not rely on guesswork. A risk plan helps the project team remain focused because they know that risks are actively being tracked and managed. When a problem is identified, the team moves swiftly to deal with it, ensuring the project is delivered successfully.
1. Suggest the issues that could have developed had the team not had a risk plan. Determine the major impacts of risk that the team needs to understand for the project to be successful.
The Satellite Development Project is a complex project as it involves integrating many unknown variables hence the need for a risk plan. Several issues might have developed had there been no risk management plan. First, the possibility of occurrence and impact of risk would not have been anticipated and planned for. Thus making sure it has minimal or no effect on the success of the project. Furthermore, it would make it challenging to prioritize risk according to the needs of the project to ensure that threats are dealt with efficiently when they occur. Due to the complexity of the unknown variables in the project, an absence of a risk plan would entail that the tight production timeline would not be achieved and the budget reserves would be insufficient to handle the cost overruns (Kloppenborg, 2015). Lack of a risk plans means that teamwork would be challenging to make as there is no avenue for the project team to work together to solve risk. By not developing a risk plan for the project, it is hard to keep track of the daily and future threats.
The impact of the risks in the Satellite Development project directly affects its success criteria. The risks mentioned in the project play a crucial role in the projects schedule and quality. The impact assessments are classified into different levels. We have the critical, high, moderate, minor and insignificant. The variations and foreseeable uncertainty in a project lead to difficulty in the overall project schedule. The complexity brought about by many variables trying to interact in non-simple ways means higher project risks. Projects with a lot of complexity and unknowns tend to have high-risk in the beginning, but as the project continues, the risk becomes smaller. The schedule of the project affects its budget directly. When then the timeline is increased, extra personnel and equipment are required thus concerning the project`s budget.
2. Justify the value of risk plan considering the time, effort, cost, and resources it took to develop such a plan. If you were the project manager, recommend the approach that you would take to ensure the project met the critical path identified.
The risk management plan is a vital aspect of planning primarily for the Satellite projects. It caters for most of the known and unknown variable during the timeline of the project. A risk plan costs the project time, money and resources. This first step in risk management involves risk identification. Here the risk events and their resulting relationship are identified. There are different identification approaches, and they include brainstorming where every member of the team gives their input on all possible risks and remedies, interviewing experts who provide professional feedback, SWOT analysis, and assumption analysis. The second step is risk impact assessment where the probabilities and consequences of the risks are examined. Risks are critically assessed through qualitative and quantitative analysis. The effects include cost, schedule, and functionality of the dangers. The third step is risk prioritization which entails the risk events to be ranked from the most to least critical. Activities deemed as high or medium risks go to the mitigation stage while those on the least endangered list are monitored ion a watch list.
The development of the risk management database in this project proved to be the best approach towards dealing with risks. It enabled the every team member a chance to identify risks they were facing or came across and at the same time providing a platform for others to air their risks (Kloppenborg, 2015). Each risk was discussed thoroughly in a group setting, and appropriate solutions are given. This enabled the team to deal with the risks collectively enhancing efficiency. Additionally, the risk plan also helped create an avenue for the team to be up to date with the project`s risks.
As the project manager of Satellite Development Project, I would look at the assessed risks and objectives of the project to make an appropriate risk management approach. There are four possible strategies to deal with risks which include; avoidance which entails pursuing a different approach to eliminate the risk. A transfer involves moving the risk somewhere else, and mitigation deals with developing a plan to control the risk. Finally, the acceptance which is advocates allowing the risk to continue and deal with the consequences if it happens. Some risk events may require multiple strategies, and the appropriate risk strategy may change as the project continues. As the manager, I would incorporate a systematic phrase analysis approach making sure a risk is analyzed exhaustively on each stage to for connections and severalty. I would also use an ownership approach where identified risks are assigned to a particular stakeholder, and they should take ownership of it. Furthermore, as the project manager, one is equipped with the tools and techniques to identify risks and provide feedback.
3. Assess how to determine the level of risk management appropriate for a project.
Determining the appropriate level of risk management is not a straightforward aspect. It takes comprehension of the project at present and in the future. It is essential to have a risk management plan that ensures risks are identified first hand (Kerzner& Kerzner, 2017). The project s have well-outlined objectives and set guideline procedures which give a sense of what the project is about and the risks involved. The level of the risk depends on its impacts and probability. This is known as risk screening. Low impact, low probability risk likelihood of occurrence is negligible, and they are not in active consideration. High impact, high probability risks are whose phenomenon can cause the term9ination of a project. Here the management must decide to halt the project or continue regardless of the risks associated. Low impact, the high probability is related to uncertainties about some aspects that when accumulated could cause significant risk. Each of these elements of certainty would have minimal effects on the project, but when taken together, could create cumulative outcomes such as cost overruns. High impact, low probability risk events are a rare occurrence as there is no sufficient data to estimate their probabilities (Burke, 2013). The risk management action taken depends on the level of the risk.
4. Imagine the team working on the satellite development project was a virtual team in which team members were unable to meet in person. Explain the expected impact on the project, and suggest two (2) ways the team could maintain its current goal in both planning and execution.”
The team working on the satellite development project would face the same risks whether on site or not. Under the new condition, the level of risk would increase. Already the project has many unknowns and the fact that no one is at the site would increase the number of unknown variables. One way of looking at it risk management planning process would be more time consuming and add to the cost overruns. The day-long clinic is more convenient as they ensure all team members participate actively and fully in the discussion to eliminate time wasting. It would also affect the timeline of the project as the team members are not active on site to experience the problems first hand. Information collected may be inaccurate hence the quality of the projected might be affected. The database provides a way to keep all team members updated, and the virtual members save unnecessary time costs from not going to the field. Consequently, the cost of overruns is reduced significantly if the team members are not required to be on site all the time.
Conclusion
We have taken an in-depth analysis of risk management in the satellite development project and the relevant risk management theories associated with the project. Finally, we provide a description of a hypothetical scenario where the parameters of the project change. The project`s objectives in planning and execution would remain the same if the team members held a webcam clinic. The webcam meeting should be exhaust to make sure every aspect of risk is covered. Additionally, every team member should have the ability to access the database at the place of convenience to ensure problems are posted in real time. Furthermore, the management should organize face-to-face meetings at times to boost relationships among the members (Nicholas& Steyn, 2017). Finally, the administration should take more time coordinating various sub-projects ensuring smooth interactions. Communication would also play a vital role towards achieving the goals of the project. Communicating risk and making every member aware of it, its impacts and probability would enhance efficiency. It would also invite suggestions to deal with the problem in a faster manner. Clear communication of the project`s goals would play a vital role in ensuring the team members keep the timeframe of the project without much supervision.
References
Burke, R. (2013). Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.Kloppenborg, T. (2015). Contemporary Project Management, 3rd Edition. 
Nicholas, J. M., & Steyn, H. (2017). Project management for engineering, business and technology. Taylor & Francis.Rolstadås, A., Tommelein, I., Morten Schiefloe, P., & Ballard, G. (2014). Understanding project success through analysis of project management approach. International journal of managing projects in business, 7(4), 638-660.