Beginning of Course

The last 19 years or so, I have spent my career in some form of project work.  Whether that be as an analyst, a subject matter expert, a tester, or rules analyst who did the coding.  At the present time, my title is "Operational Risk Consultant" in a mortgage lending environment.  I implement business rules changes in a rules engine as directed by projects.

While we have a formal "Risk" team, each of the roles I have been in has needed some sort of involvement with Risk Management.  As an analyst or SME, it was often my responsibility to identify gaps or risks.  People on the project teams were not as close to the production as I was.  As a tester, we had to balance the number of scripts we would run against time & resource restraints resulting in the lowest amount of risk possible.  As a programmer, we have to weigh risks on the capacity of the systems, risk to external users and risk to all the other code in the engine.

My MBA has taught me that there are formal project phases and the risk management done in each cycle.  My company's project methodology has templates in them that require risks to be filled in.  Real life job experience has taught me that looking for and mitigating risks is a high priority in any project work.

In the course's syllabus, the following objectives are familiar to me in my career:

2. Evaluate the project manager’s role in managing project risk. 

4. Demonstrate how to prioritize risks according to their impact and significance on the

overall project. 

In the course's syllabus, the following objectives will require a bit more work on my part to master.  While they are familiar to me, they involve tasks/work that I have not created personally.

1.     Evaluate the risk identification process as it relates to the project management

process groups and knowledge areas. 

3. Compare various tools and techniques to identify and assess the impact of identified

risks on the overall project. 

5. Evaluate quality improvement methodologies for the purpose of mitigating or

eliminating project risks. 

6. Create comprehensive project risk and quality management reports.

Because my career has been and will continue to be so project focused, risk management is critical in any role that I play.  While I do not have aspirations to be someone with the designated title of "Risk Management Consultant", all information will be put to good use in my daily job.  As with most of MBA classes, I will walk away with more knowledge than I started with and will be surprised when I need to rely on it in an everyday situation.

As we begin working through the course objectives, I look forward to working with my classmates and learning about their personal experience.  While the texts and assignments provide theories and knowledge, my brain enjoys attaching that knowledge to practical application.  When people answer the questions on the discussion board and provide examples of how their companies work, it really grounds the learning for me.

I look forward to the end of the class and reflecting on how much I used the class materials in my daily job.