Some Suggestions!
This chapter outlined the similarities of risk management to decision-making. It left the details of common processes to the standards and industry practices of teams work within, but provided a framework for thinking about risk management.
In this last section we offer a few quick suggestions.
Structure Risk Management
In the last section we examined risks as a kind of structured decision. Likewise, risk management is a highly structured activity.
Just as we want a structured decision-making process for handling risks, we also want a structured process for creating the team's risk profile, identifying risks and responses, and monitoring day to day activities against the risk profile.
Going back to an earlier point, this need not be complicated. Adding structure does not mean adding complexity, it means adding organization.
View As If It Were a Team
The structure of risk management is much like that of a team. There are goals, roles, areas of responsibility, tasks, and, of course, decisions.
If risk management is a substantial activity due to the team working on high risk activities, separate out the risk manage- ment process into a sub-team with its own status reporting.
The additional clarity may actually decrease the effort required to manage risk. This especially true if the team's information systems do not add significant overhead to the separation of concerns.
Using MetaTeam
To use MetaTeam for risk management start by doing the follow- ing:
• Log in
• Create a risk management team from your My Teams page
• Click the Decisions button in the top nav bar
• Click the Add link at the bottom to create agendas grouping your risks
• Add risks a to one of your agendas. Click its name to open it.
• Notice that you can add alternative responses to your risk.
You can also set criteria for risk responses to meet, prioritize the risk, and link it to preparation and implementation work.
For more suggestions, tips and screenshots look in the MetaTeam blog. The Risk Management and Collaborative Decision-making labels are good places to start. If you want to change the default Decisions labeling to better match the lan- guage you use in risk management start with the Customization label.
Risks grouped in two of the typical risk assessment categories within MetaTeam
