Shared Knowledge Dissolves Fear

Recently a large project was nearing its last phase and I had a lot of worries and near panic about its viability. I raised the alarm and said we have to tell management what’s going on and make sure there are mitigations of risk and contingency plans so they can see where they are at, early enough to take action. I had an earlier discussion with coworkers about my tendency to be alarmist and yet not have impact and they said it’s because I don’t ‘bring people with me’. I said: ”So I should go gathers some facts and make a case?” and they said: “No, that’s just gathering ammunition. Tell people why you are concerned. Sit down with them until they understand, then see where that takes you and the team. ” .

So I examined the different areas of risk and we outlined them in a strategic planning report. In an effort to verify some facts I spent some time researching the documentation available. I found and read all the test plans, training plans, data conversion plans, and discovered that there were plans in all the areas I was concerned with and yes there were real risks, but at least they were aware of them. We discusssed these with some of the management and they agreed. Even though the risks are still there, I feel much more calm and informed and capable of responding to those risks as well as trusting the team and management to deal properly with them.