Acknowledgments

The second edition of this book is the result of even more decades of project work than the first edition, as well as thousands of hours of discussion about project management and project risk (including more than a little good-humored disagreement). It is also the consequence of many presentations and workshops on project risk management. Project work described in this book includes projects I have led at Hewlett-Packard, DuPont, and elsewhere as well as other projects done by colleagues, friends, and workshop participants from an enormous diversity of project environments. The large number of project situations that serves as the foundation of this book ensures that it is aligned with the real world and that it contains ideas that are practical and effective—not just based on interesting theories.

It is not possible to specifically acknowledge all of the people who have contributed useful content about projects and risk that are found in this book, but there are a few whom I need to single out. I spent twenty years at Hewlett-Packard, in a number of different roles, and there are many HP people who have helped to shape the ideas in this book, especially the members of the HP Project Management Initiative team. These folks served as a boundless source of wisdom and good examples, and they were always quick to point out anything that I said that was nonsense. Although most of us have now moved on, we remain close as friends, as critics, and as associates. From this group, I am particularly indebted to Richard Simonds, who diligently reads most of what I write and complains surprisingly little. I also owe big debts to Richard Bauhaus, Charlie Elman, Randy Englund, Patrick Neal, John Lamy, Ron Benton, Terry Ash, Ted Slater, Wolfgang Blickle, Denis Lambert, Patrick Schmid and Ashok Waran.

I am also grateful for support, guidance, and constructive criticism from the other officers and members of the PMI RiskSIG, especially Chuck Bosler, Karel de Bakker, Craig Peterson, David Hulett, David Hillson, Esteri Hinman, and Janice Preston.

I also need to acknowledge others who contributed to this book, particularly John Kennedy, who ensured that anything I said about statistics was within defendable confidence limits, and Peter de Jager, who bears many Y2K risk management scars.

Finally, my largest debt of gratitude in this endeavor goes to my wife, Barbara, who encouraged this project, supported it, warned me that a second edition would be at least as difficult as the first, and repeatedly read all the versions of the manuscript (including the boring parts). She provided the book with most of its clarity and a good deal of its logical structure. If the book proves useful to you, it is largely due to her efforts.

Although others have contributed significantly to the content of this book, any errors, omissions, or other problems are strictly my own. Should you run into any, let me know.

I also appreciate all the feedback and support from project risk management facilitators and participants, which has been enormously helpful in creating this second edition of Identifying and Managing Project Risk. If you are using this book to conduct training or university classes and are interested in supplemental materials, please feel free to contact me.

Tom Kendrick, San Carlos, CA
[email protected]