PM ADVISORY:

Risk Event Management
And the Nuclear Power Plant on the New Madrid Earthquake Fault Line

By Brian Vanderjack, PMP, MBA
AT&T

USA

This article provides project managers (PMs) a meaningful and clear way to address known risks, especially those that can hurt an organization after a project deploys.  By identifying and managing risk properly surprises tend to be fewer and less costly.  If an event does take place that damages the performing organization, then the degree of damage can be minimized.  For the purposes of this article, risk is defined as an event that does not meet with expectations that are either stated, implied, or inferred.  Though risk events can be positive or negative, the focus here will be on managing the possibility of an event that may bring harm. 

Sadly, no matter how much planning and preparation a PM does, there is always a chance that a loss can be experienced during a project.  In fact, by actively managing a risk event, new adverse risks can be added.  If a risk event manifests itself, the first thing that will happen is people will look to the PM to determine whether the potential loss was anticipated and, if so, when and what was done to address it.   A successful PM plans for known risks, which allows them to provide answers during key learning reviews, should the risk event ever take place.  

The back drop for this article is a fictional nuclear power plant to be built on the Mississippi river in Southern Illinois. The site was identified as a strategic necessity by homeland security.  Paul Kempler is the fictional PM who has overall responsibility for the creation and deployment of the new plant.  The risk is that there is a well-known geographic instability in the area called the New Madrid Fault. Fortunately, no noteworthy seismic activity has happened along the fault line in about 100 years.  As the plant’s design plan was sound and the land deemed stable, the plant was given the green light for development by the government. 

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About the Author Brian Vanderjack, PMP, MBA Author Brian  Vanderjack, PMP, MBA is a full time IT project manager for AT&T.  He manages projects in the service ordering, billing, voice-response-unit, and sales compensation areas.  His projects typically have more than twenty members, including team members who work outside the boarders of the USA.  He is also an adjunct-professor in the face-to-face MBA program for the University of Phoenix (the largest private MBA program in the USA) and, in addition, leads seminars on risk and quality for PMCentersUSA.com. Brian shares what he has learned by professionally speaking to audiences that desire to improve organizational results through better leadership and management. His most recent speaking roles were on the topic of how project teams can effectively use leadership techniques to quickly increase project team results.  This topic was delivered in 2011 at the Project Management Institute (PMI) Chicago land Leadership Conference and at the PMI Indiana/Michigan chapter.  While at PMI’s Chicago land Leadership Conference he was also a member of the panel-discussion’s  topic experts. He has won over a dozen awards for public speaking. As a speaker he has shared his knowledge at many locations and organizations including; Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Business, the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business, the University of Houston, Microsoft User’s Group, and Underwriters Laboratories.  His honors and awards include earning the AT&T’s Excellence in Project Management Award, winning the Faculty of the Year from the University of Phoenix’s Chicago land face-to-face MBA program, and graduating from DePaul’s MBA program with distinction.  He likes to spend his free time writing about education, leadership and management. He recently published his first book on AMAZON.com, and has been published in PM World Today (December/2010 issue).  To present at an event, Brian can be reached at Brian@LeadPresenter.com.