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9780566092428

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'This book takes project risk management firmly onto a higher and wider plane. We thought we knew what project risk management was and what it could do. David Hancock shows us a great deal more of both. David Hancock has probably read more about risk management than almost anybody else, he has almost certainly thought about it as much as anybody else and he has quite certainly learnt from doing it on very difficult projects as much as anybody else. His book draws fully on all three components. For a book which tackles a complex subject with breadth, insight and novelty - it's remarkable that it is also a really good read. I could go on!' - Dr Martin Barnes, President, The Association for Project Management 'This compact and thought provoking description of risk management will be useful to anybody with responsibilities for projects, programmes or businesses. It hits the nail on the head in so many ways, for example by pointing out that risk management can easily drift into a check-list mindset, driven by the production of registers of numerous occurrences characterised by the Risk = Probability x Consequence equation. David Hancock points out that real life is much more complicated, with the heart of the problem lying in people, so that real life resembles poker rather than roulette. He also points out that while the important thing is to solve the right problem, many real life issues cannot be readily described in a definitive statement of the problem. There are often interrelated individual problems with surrounding social issues and he describes these real life situations as 'Wicked Messes'. Unusual terminology, but definitely worth the read, as much for the overall problem description as for the recommended strategies for getting to grips with real life risk management. I have no hesitation in recommending this book. - Sir Robert Walmsley, Chairman of the Board of the Major Projects Association 'In highlighting the complexity of many of today's problems and defining them as tame, messy or wicked, David Hancock brings a new perspective to the risk issues that we currently face. He challenges risk managers, and particularly those involved in project risk management, to take a much broader approach to the assessment of risk and consider the social, political and behavioural dimensions of each problem, as well as the scientific and engineering aspects with which they are most comfortable. In this way, risks will be viewed more holistically and managed more effectively than at present.' - Dr Lynn T Drennan, Chief Executive, Alarm, the public risk management association 'Risk leadership is about putting aside traditional linear risk processes and developing relationships with stakeholders, scenario planning, helping others live with uncertainty and facilitating mitigation plans to achieve the best possible compromise, understanding that there is no right answer. This sounds fascinating, and I wanted to read more about it. Maybe Hancock will write another volume exploring the concept of risk leadership in more depth? As one of the UK's leading experts on risk I'm sure he's got more to say on the subject. I would certainly read it.' Elizabeth Harrin on Gantthead.com 'International standards on project management take a high-level approach to quantitative risk management and are not intended to supply today's project management practitioners with an appreciation of the social and psychological aspectsof risk management and leadership. David Hancock, in Tame, Messy and Wicked Risk Leadership, illustrates this missing hands on knowledge dimension that is so critical to the project management discipline...The real-life examples of London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 and NASA's Challenger projects serve as evidence that risk leadership is an essential tool when leading complex projects...With the growing understanding of the importance of risk management and leadership in project management, this book makes a meaningful contribution to the understanding of qualitative aspects of risk leadership.' Project Management Journal

'Risk leadership is about putting aside traditional linear risk processess and developing relationships with stakeholders, scenario planning, helping others live with uncertainty and facilitating mitigation plans to achieve the best possible compromise, understanding that there is no right answer. This sounds fascinating, and i wanted to read more about it. Maybe Hancock will write another volume exploring the concept of risk leadership in more depth? As one of the UK's leading experts on risk I'm sure he's got more to say on the subject. I would certainly read it.' Elizabeth Harrin on Gantthead.com

Author Information

Dr David Hancock is Head of Construction for the UK Cabinet Office. Previously he was Head of Project Risk for London Underground, part of Transport for London. He has run his own consultancy, and was Director of Risk and Assurance for the London Development Agency (LDA) - under both Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson's leadership - with responsibilities for risk management activities and audit for all of the Agency's and its partner's programmes. Prior to this for 6 years he was Executive Director with the Halcrow Group, responsible for establishing and expanding the business consultancy group. He has a wide breadth of knowledge in project management and complex projects developed over more than 20 years and extensive experience in opportunity and risk management, with special regard to people and behavioural aspects. He is a board director with Alarm (The National Forum for Risk Management in the Public Sector), a co-director of the managing partners' forum risk panel, member of the programme committee for the Major Projects Association and a visiting Fellow at Cranfield University in their School of Management.

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