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News Release from: American Technical Publishers
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 15 October 2002
Proactive risk management
A new book from Productivity Press provides product development teams and managers with a five-step process for managing innovation risk.
A new book from Productivity Press, "Proactive risk management: controlling uncertainty in product development", provides product development teams and managers with a five-step process for managing innovation risk Few development teams put enough attention into managing risk, so they encounter needless surprises in schedule, product costs or features, project budgets, team morale, or market acceptance when developing new products
This book enables product development teams to identify these surprises early in the project and manage them throughout to diminish the disruption they cause.
The authors, Preston Smith and Guy Merritt, lead the reader through a five-step risk management process that has been used repeatedly and successfully at leading companies.
"Proactive risk management" provides crucial information for product development success that is found in no other book.
This includes the five-step standard risk model, guidance for identifying drivers of risks, appropriate quantification of key factors of risk, clear distinction between a risk and an issue, supporting tools and strategies, and emphasis on the cultural and organisational impediments that can undermine risk management implementation.
The authors also suggest variations that the reader can made to adapt the process to their own needs.
The book begins by covering the essential concepts of risk and risk management.
It then introduces risk models and the five-step standard risk model.
The authors provide an overview of the risk management process and detail the five steps of the process.
These steps are identifying risks, analysing risks, prioritising risks, resolving risks, and monitoring risks.
Smith and Merritt also provide a "risk manager's kit of analytical tools".
The book includes approaches to effective risk management and implementation essentials.
It concludes with two case studies that illustrate how to use the techniques.
This book is based on sound research and real-life experience.
The authors involved customers in developing the book; an international customer council of 46 individuals made important contributions by suggesting additions or changes to the book's structure, by completing 134 reviews of draft chapters, and by providing examples from their own experience.
The bulk of the book's material comes directly from the experiences of project teams in applying this standard risk model.
The authors present the principles and concepts first, and then illustrate them with numerous case studies throughout the text.
The authors have completely implemented the techniques described and have seen them substantially improve business operations.
"Proactive risk management" stands apart from much of the literature of project risk management in its practical, easy-to-use, fact-based approach to managing all of the risks associated with a project.
The depth of actual how-to information and techniques found in the book are not available anywhere else.
This book is useful to beginners and advanced users of risk management techniques alike.
The process covered in this book is tailored to commercial product development, but is applicable to many other types of projects.
Manufacturers, engineers, and product developers, anyone who wants to minimise risk, will benefit from reading this book.
"Proactive risk management" sells for GBP 26.00, and is available from American Technical Publishers.
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