I taught this weekend's RMP® Exam Prep class, we wrapped early, and I figured I had a good window to get to the airport for my flight to Vegas. Not my usual "arrive stupid early" buffer... but enough.
Or so I thought.
Then a car broke down right on the highway ramp, merging lanes, traffic backed up for 25 minutes.
I got to the parking garage and waited another 10 for the shuttle.
Security actually moved fast... maybe 10 minutes, but my bag was "flagged" for inspection.
I made it to the gate with just enough time to grab a snack before boarding.
Ten minutes to spare. Too close for my comfort.
Now, let's get Proactive Over Reactive!
"If you never miss a plane, you're spending too much time at the airport."
— George Stigler, Nobel Prize winning economist
This is the exact fight my wife and I have every time we travel.
I leave early so there is a buffer. I want to arrive and wait, not sprint.
She back-plans down to the minute: security's 10, parking's 10, drive's 40, so we leave at 5 and call it "fine."
It's fine right up until it isn't.
Two people, two risk profiles
We've never missed a flight. We've had to move fast through an airport more than once.
Not because she's reckless, because her plan has zero room in it. Mine has margin built in on purpose.
That's risk appetite, tolerance, and threshold playing out in real life.
My appetite for cutting it close is low.
My tolerance for delay is high.
My threshold, the "we leave now, no more waiting" point, kicks in way earlier than hers.
Neither of us is wrong. We just run different systems.
And that's usually where project friction comes from too, not because people don't care about risk, but because nobody's said their appetite, tolerance, and threshold out loud.
You assume everyone's running your system. They're not.
This week, ask your sponsor directly: "Where's our threshold? At what point does this become an escalation, not a conversation?" Most teams have never said that out loud.
Risk management isn't just a work framework.
It shows up in your calendar, your relationships, your Monday morning, which is exactly why it's not as hard as it feels. It just takes a little reflection.
What's hard is winging it and hoping.
The Bearded Risk PM on YouTube
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"Project Risk Management 101: Don't Start a Project Without This"
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