Scheduling Based on Circumstances
Understanding
Another method of risk management is to create contingency plans. This means having several backup plans in case something goes wrong during the planning and/or execution of the project. Contingency plans can be crafted after doing the preliminary risk assessment using RAMS. This would make planning the plan easier as it helps to direct the direction of where the plan is going.
Application
The workshop being held online was actually a contingency plan itself. Initially, my team was planning to host the workshop in person as we felt that it was the easiest considering the limited logistics and profile of participants. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, we were unable to do so. However, when the news of Phase 2 heightened alert was announced, no one from my team felt flustered or panic as we already had a contingency plan in mind.
This contingency plan was ideated during the early stages of the planning process as the COVID-19 cases in Singapore was on the rise during that period of time. This made the transition from offline to online smooth for my team as every team member was able to respond accordingly. This saved us a lot of time and gave us more time to prepare the other logistical aspects of the project. Despite the changes, the team was able to adapt efficiently due to the contingency plan that was already in place prior to any of the events that happened.
Values and Challenges
A good aspect of creating contingency plans is that it allows the transition from plan to plan smoothly as all team members would already know what the details of the plan are. This also saves time thinking of a new plan when the anticipated risk happens.
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However, the negative aspect of this is that it can get confusing for team members if there are multiple plans being planned. Hence, contingency plans should only be for medium to severe scoring risks to ensure that everything is kept minimal and neat.