One of my favorite quotes on risk is from author, Ray Bradbury, “Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down.” Often, the problem is not that businesses don’t consider risk; it’s that they don’t really think about it. Without a good risk profile, you will find yourself “barreling through the air” with the ground rushing up to meet you – not the optimal time to build wings! Developing a comprehensive risk profile is essential in mitigating risk and maximizing opportunity.

Businesses would not dream of operating without insurance; what if someone gets hurt? What if there is a fire? What if there is earthquake damage or a meteor falls from space and lands on your facility? What if someone embezzles or steals confidential information? We need protection against these risks – but what about a much more common risk, the loss of key players?

In her 2012 report, Price Waterhouse Cooper’s Eve Mitchell discusses the waterfall, or traditional, project management approach versus the agile approach, which are generally considered to be mutually exclusive. But, she notes, “organisations who would consider they are guided by waterfall principles unwittingly [are] also employing agile practices.” The point is not that you should employ either one of these approaches strictly but realize that each has its benefits and a hybrid approach, such as that presented by the COE, may be most beneficial.

If you get yourself a new Canon EOS 5D Mark III, you can become a professional photographer. If you pick up an Estwing hammer, you can become a master carpenter. Does this make sense? It is like saying that Michelangelo was only a good painter because he had a great brush, or he was a good sculptor because he had a high-quality chisel. We understand this, but why is it that we expect tools to be the answer, end-all, be-all for business? The key to success is not in the tools, it’s in the people. Effective leadership and project management are what create success.

Tools are important; that’s absolutely true. You couldn’t migrate from a legacy system to an updated suite of cloud-based programs without the right tools. You couldn’t upgrade a facility without tools. But if technology could do it all, we wouldn’t have abysmal project failure rates – and IT certainly wouldn’t be the most prone to failures! Most failures are not attributable to lack of, or improper, technology and tools, or even budget constraints. They fail because of old-fashioned human error in the form of weak management.

Virtually every industry has a guide that helps those who operate within it follow best practices. Whether the Fair Work Ombudsman Best Practices Guide or the Nursing Best Practice Guidelines, these works contain generally recognized best practices in a given field. The PMBOK guide has a terrible acronym, but it is a helpful tool. The Project Management Body of Knowledge documents accepted project management information and practices, designed to help PMs manage most types of projects, regardless of industry.