Risk Management in Projects

You are a project manager in the marketing department for a global investment management firm, LRH Financial. The company is launching a multi-million dollar TV and print marketing campaign, which will include sponsorship of major golf and basketball tournaments. You have been discussing the project with the VP of Marketing, Alana Shapiro. Alana just informed you that the company's vendor relationships have enabled them to make arrangements for Terrence Smith, a world-renowned golf champion, to be the company's spokesperson. The first golf tournament is being held ninety days from today. You will need to complete enough planning to begin work on the golf tournament marketing.

You have been involved with several projects that have had tight deadlines in the past. This one is slightly different in that it involves a celebrity figure with a demanding schedule. Plus, you are already working under very tight project deadlines.

This is a critical project for LRH, and you are honored (and a little nervous) to be the project manager. This project is part of a larger strategic initiative to reach new markets and grow the company's revenues over a three-year period. The budget for the project is clearly defined and seems to be adequate. Senior leadership is supportive of the project. However, they have not reached clarity or consensus around the specific scope and objectives of each portion of the campaign. While that will be worked out during the initial phase of the project, you need to move forward aggressively with the upcoming golf tournament.

You will need to carefully identify, monitor, and control the risks for this project to ensure that the marketing campaign can be released on schedule and within budget. Good luck!

Question:
You are ten days away from the golf tournament. Your team is diligently working on all the project activities, along with the new tasks needed for the advertising opportunity. The stress level on the team is high. There are many overtime hours required and the work is fast-paced. Betty has been a team player thus far, taking on added responsibility and even working overtime when needed.
A few moments ago, Fred (one of your other key marketing specialists) handed you his resignation letter. He has accepted a similar opportunity with a competitor. His last day with LRH is in three days and he is unwilling to stay any longer. He starts his new job right away and would like some time off between jobs. Your immediate response was to call Alana to inform her of what has just transpired. You inform her that you would like one hour to develop a project impact assessment. Then, you would like to schedule an emergency meeting with her and the other marketing department managers to discuss the project schedule and next steps.
Prepare a one-page project impact assessment that defines the impact to the project team, assignments, and schedule. Define possible actions that you can take to respond to the risk event. Include any new risks that Fred's departure raises. The final portion of the impact assessment should include a recommendation of the action(s) you think should be taken along with the rationale for these actions.

Question 2:
You have finished the project impact assessment and are getting ready to share the results with Alana and the other department managers. Using your results from the prior discussion board, along with the searching the article search engines and project management links in the Library, prepare a fifteen-minute compelling and effective presentation that summarizes the impact of Fred's departure and lays out the recommended response. The presentation should share the bad news and emphasize the actions that you need Alana and the managers to take. Any open points, budget changes, or schedule changes will require Alana's approval, so be sure to share them.