Customer Reviews

Proactive Risk Management : Controlling Uncertainty in Product Development

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Proactive Risk Management" is by far the clearest and most direct treatment I've found for managing risk within New Product Development projects. Preston Smith has done an excellent job of taking a complex topic (one which has recently become much more important in an unforgiving economic environment), distilling it down to a simple but elegantly powerful risk model, and embedding that model within a proven continuous risk management process.

I'm always delighted to read Smith's articles in the product development journals (e.g. PDMA JPIM, Research-Technology Management). He's hit the nail on the head with this book - his earlier treatments on risk pointed out the need for NPD risk management, but lacked the detail needed to tackle risk in a way that could be immediately implemented. He's now closed that gap, and NPD professionals will find immediate gain from his work.

The book is very well written and organized. The running example, as well as the more detailed case studies, provide the implementation examples that easily moves one from theory to practice. The examples of spreadsheets and risk maps are a snap to replicate, and they work. The graphics and charts are clear and to the point. Smith's direct in-the-trenches experience clearly shows - this is not a theoretical/academic treatment, but instead is an insightful distillation of a great deal of thought and trial reduced to concise practice. As the earlier reviewer points out, there's very little not to like here!

One of the biggest points of this book is that risk does not reside only within the technical realm, but must be managed across functions (marketing, manufacturing, support, etc...) and over the complete span of the development and delivery effort. This holistic view provides the framework to true product success.

(The reviewer is currently corporate NPD manager at a major semiconductor firm, previously managed Technology Strategy at a Fortune 100 company, and is PDMA NPDP certified.)

Over the years, I have encountered nearly every kind of risk in software projects. I found the suggestions in this book for risk analysis and risk management to be simple, clear, and actionable.

If you're a project manager or a team leader, you need to read this book or one very much like it. Otherwise, you're likely to lead a project without knowing or controlling its risks.

If you are not in a leadership position, use the concepts in this book to evaluate your leaders. That way, you can find out early how things are likely to turn out.

I found this book to be the most approachable, and day to day useful text on risk, currrently available. The authors make it easy to understand, provide a progressive example that builds on the model presented, and they provide a useful risk management toolkit.
As a trainer, I found the concepts easy to get across to students. They were also able to retain these concepts because they made so much sense.
Buy it!

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time on the important topic of risk management. The treatment of the standard risk model is complete, easy to follow, and very practical. Some of the other bonuses include organization/facilitation tips for risk identification workshops, and proposals for tools and reporting formats. The material will quickly lend itself to practical applications in the work place for those who are interested in improving the risk identification and management practices in their organizations.
Possible improvements to the book could include more technical examples related to product development (the book uses the risk of `heart attack' as an example throughout the book), and a CD with electronic versions of the tools and reports that are proposed.

There's very little about Proactive Risk Management not to like. It has an excellent format, with an executive summary chapter up front, then detailed how-to chapters. I especially liked the analogy to FMEA's (Failure Modes Effects Analysis). Comparison with FMEA's puts it in perspective, which is such an everyday tool for many engineers, it's easy to understand how it is risk management also, just with a very narrow scope. This book can be either skimmed fairly quickly initially, with Caution, Key Idea, and Example markers easily focusing concentration on key points and items to refer back in the future. However, the detailed chapters allow the book to also be used as a "how-to" manual. There are many examples throughout the book, most from actual product development uses of Risk Management, and a chapter devoted to two case studies, plus a hypothetical running example used in several chapters.

There is a good discussion about how risk management fits into the overall product development process. I also liked the frequent comparisons of issue vs. risk, I can see the confusion arising on this, and I thought these were well clarified. As I read the book, I went back and forth on whether there should be more discussion of broader use of risk management than pure product development- i.e. starting up a new manufacturing plant. Fortunately, one of the case studies touched on this exact scenario.

I highly recommend Proactive Risk Management. I think there's little doubt that usage of this tool will continue to increase, and this is as thorough, yet easy to understand and apply, of a book on the subject that one could hope to find.

this book is perhaps the best I have seen on this subject that everyone recognizes but few if any do well.

This was a great book that I have already started to use; it helped to frame what a true program should look like but also provided room to insert some things that I already do - very valuable.

This book is right right on target in its ability to bring risk management down to a practical level that can be easily applied in most businesses. Too many risk management books exist today that are very theortical in their treatment of risk. Preston has been able to bring theory down to a practical level that can be used daily in product development situations. This is what is needed in most businesses today, simple yet effective risk management.

I liked the coverage, and felt the book was of practical value.
It wasn't just a lecture, teaching generic terms, it explained how to use the concepts and what to avoid.

Plan ahead. What can go wrong that I can do something about, and plan for that well in advance. Concentrate on 7-10 things that can be managed.

I really tuned into the title "Proactive" Risk Management -- expecting to learn some new and valuable risk management techniques, and I relied heavily on other reviewer's comments; unfortunately, my take on this book is quite different from theirs -- and that's why I'm writing -- so that others won't be misled, as I was.

I was quite disappointed in this book; I feel like I wasted my money. Normally I read such books very carefully; highlighting interesting and/or important points, and take lots of notes; however, this book is almost un-marked, and I took no notes.

As a PMP-certified project manager, I like to see books such as this relate their material to the Project Management Institute (PMI)'s PMBOK.

The authors made passing reference to the PMBOK early in Chapter 1, but that was about it; they didn't specifically relate their content to PMI's PMBOK, and given PMI's stature as industry standard, I consider that to be a significant omission.

If you're new to the area of risk management, and want an easy-to-read "How-To," you might enjoy this book.

However, if you're an experienced project/risk manager, I'd recommend you buy something else.

As for me, I'll put it on my bookshelf, where it will probably simply gather dust. I found this book to be merely a "re-hash" of other material, with little information that that I didn't already know, i.e., "lightweight," a beginner's introductory "Reader".