The Biggest Project Management Risk of All — Our Brains

As project managers, a large part of our jobs is to assess risks. We typically assess risks during the pre-work stage of project management and then monitor those risks throughout the project lifecycle.

Risks come in many different forms and categories, such as systemic risks, environmental risks, and programmatic risks, just to name a few, of course. They can range from a bug in a project management system to an earthquake.

We develop a detailed risk management plan complete with a risk register log to identify track, monitor, and resolve risks as they arise during the project.

But here’s one risk we likely don’t account for in our risk management plans… our own brains.

How Our Brains Work

There is a lot of research out there on how our brains work, specifically how we think and perceive what we hear and see, and how we process situations, issues, experiences, and events. In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman — long-time economist and Nobel Peace Price winner — describes the two systems in the human mind: System 1 and System 2.

Here are the characteristics of each one:

Characteristics of “System 1”

• Generates first impressions…