Afterword

Bobbie’s journey is over but it’s also just beginning. That’s the curse of risk management: it never ends.

But there’s a benefit in this endlessness: it develops a momentum of its own. Like mastery of a skill, it’s hard to achieve but once you are there, success begets success. However, you have to start somewhere and, as with anything, that first step is the hardest.

That’s definitely the case with the risk assessment. In fact, there are so many things to do that deciding which is the first step can be a trial in its own right. And muddling your way through is a recipe for disaster or at least embarrassment. (It was for me.)

Beyond The Spreadsheet was designed to be an antidote for this uncertainty and a way to help you plan out those first steps and begin that journey towards mastery. Guides to the risk assessment aren’t that unusual, but where I hope BTS is unique is that it’s written to help you understand your risks, not just give you a template for the risk assessment. The ‘Frameworks‘ section could have been a book in its own right but that alone wouldn’t help you deliver a successful risk assessment.

Instead, I took inspiration from The Goal and Project Phoenix, weaving Bobbie’s story into a larger narrative of how to contextualize the risk assessment, how to align the scope with the organization’s objectives and how to deliver the results people need, not just a spreadsheet.

I hope this helps you take those first steps and to go beyond the spreadsheet, to truly understand your risks, and to propel your organization to success.

Good luck!