Risk management - Accountability
Accountability
One of the key aspects of project management [see ‘The Complete Project Management package’] and [see 'The Complete Project Management plus PRINCE2'] is that ACCOUNTABILITY can not be delegated, whereas, RESPONSIBILITY can be delegated.
It is very important to make sure that when the plan to manage risk for a particular task is agreed that someone is assigned to make it happen.
That person will be ACCOUNTABLE for making it happen. No one else will be responsible for this. If the responsibility for such a task were passed on it could lead to passing the buck when things are getting tough.
The next question is where should this accountability lie.
- The project team?
- The steering committee?
- The board?
- The contractor?
- The customer (actual user)?
For most projects the latter is unlikely. If the project team are accountable for all the identified risk areas this may lead to certain disadvantages.
The cost is very likely to be higher as extra resource will be required.
For certain risks the client or the contractor may well be in a better position to manage it and thus should be accountable.
Like all aspects of control all areas of ACCOUNTABILITY must be agreed up front. This does not necessarily mean that person joins the project team just that they will need to have their progress reported at regular meetings.
These aspects are treated in much more detail elsewhere.