Risk Mitigation in Construction

‼️ I made these mistakes, and my water project failed. It was my first year on site as a young, eager engineer. I was supervising a rural water reticulation project in Esigodini . We were behind schedule and over budget. Pressure was high. Decisions had to be made , and I made the wrong ones. To cut costs, we started compromising on construction standards. At the time, it felt justifiable. But it wasn’t long before the system started failing. And it hurt. I had to watch a community's hope for clean water fade because of decisions I approved. Here’s where I went wrong: 1️⃣ Improper Bedding & Backfilling I allowed pipes to be laid directly on rocky ground with minimal bedding. No proper compaction. It looked like progress, but beneath the surface, it was a disaster in waiting. 2️⃣ No Thrust Blocks at Key Points On bends and critical junctions, we skipped thrust blocks to save time and concrete. When the pumps were activated, joints burst open like a balloon under pressure. I also overlooked proper jointing techniques and quality assurance checks. HDPE welds weren't inspected. Ductile iron pipes were joined in haste. No supervision. No second eyes. Just assumptions. (This is where you need an experienced foreman) 🎯 Lesson learned? Even the best designs fail without proper execution. And in Africa, where every drop of clean water matters, we can’t afford to get it wrong. Africa doesn’t need more pipes, it needs better pipe-laying practices. “It’s not always poor design that kills water projects , it’s poor execution. I learned that the hard way, so you don’t have to.”

After completing over 300 IT projects, I’ve learned one thing: Frameworks like Agile, Scrum, and Six Sigma are great… in theory. In real life? Projects rarely go as planned. Why? Because things happen. - Plans change. - Approvals get stuck. - Shipments are late. - People on medical leave. And suddenly, that perfect framework feels useless. Sound familiar? Here’s what I’ve learned after 300+ IT projects: - Start with the End Date: Lock in your target deadline. That’s your anchor. - Work Backwards: Build the timeline in reverse. It’s the only way to stay realistic. - Set Milestones: Break the project into chunks you can actually hit. - Focus, Focus, Focus: Forget perfection. Just hit those milestones, one by one. That’s it. No over-complicating. Just clear steps to move forward. My Biggest Takeaway Frameworks are helpful, but flexibility wins.  Plans change, and that’s okay. The goal isn’t to follow a framework. It’s to deliver results. What about you? How do you handle it when plans fall apart?

I failed 5 times before I figured it out. Here’s every business I tried (and what each taught me)  2015 - Charity Platform ✅ Why I thought it would work: Charities needed fresh ways to raise money. ❌ Why it failed: Big charities move way too slow, red tape killed momentum. 💡 Lesson learned: Work with smaller, agile clients who can act fast. 2016 - Affiliate Site for Dentists ✅ Why I thought it would work: Dentists pay big for leads = $$$ opportunity. ❌ Why it failed: Having a product isn’t enough, I had zero marketing skills. 💡 Lesson learned: Affiliate success = mastering marketing & performance media. 2017 - Talent Agency ✅ Why I thought it would work: I crushed it in influencer marketing—this felt like the next step. ❌ Why it failed: Managing ego-driven talent is a nightmare. 💡 Lesson learned: Winning in one space doesn’t mean you’ll win in the next. New market = new skillset. 2018 - Doodlar (Teespring Competitor) ✅ Why I thought it would work: Teespring made £50M—I wanted a piece of the pie. ❌ Why it failed: I went too broad instead of focusing on a niche. 💡 Lesson learned: Start with a laser focus (e.g., anime fans) before scaling up. 2019 - PetHeart ✅ Why I thought it would work: Pet owners are obsessed with their pets. ❌ Why it failed: I wasn’t a pet owner, I didn’t understand my customers. 💡 Lesson learned: Deep customer insight is non-negotiable for product success. What did I do differently? I embraced failure, learned from it, and applied those lessons to my next big idea. Your failures don’t define you how you learn from them does. So, if you’re struggling, don’t give up. The next big success might be just around the corner.

6-Step Methodology for Climate Risk Assessment 🌎 Addressing climate-related risks is increasingly essential as extreme weather events, resource scarcity, and ecosystem disruptions become more frequent and severe. Effective Climate Risk Management (CRM) equips governments, organizations, and communities with the tools to anticipate, prepare for, and mitigate these impacts. A structured approach to climate risk assessment not only identifies vulnerabilities but also informs proactive measures that protect lives, livelihoods, and essential infrastructure. The GP L&D’s 6-step methodology offers a practical, systematic framework for understanding and addressing climate risks, integrating these insights into public policies and investment decisions to build resilience and promote sustainable development. The first step in this methodology is to analyze the current status to determine information needs and set specific objectives. Establishing a clear baseline of vulnerabilities helps ensure that the entire process remains aligned with the climate resilience goals set out from the start. From here, a hotspot and capacity analysis is conducted, identifying regions and systems most exposed to climate risks—such as droughts or floods—and evaluating the local capacity to respond. This targeted analysis allows for efficient resource allocation by pinpointing areas of highest priority. The methodology then adapts to local contexts by developing a tailored approach that reflects unique socio-economic and environmental factors. This customization enhances the relevance and accuracy of the risk assessment, making it more actionable and specific to each setting. Following this, a comprehensive risk assessment is conducted, using both qualitative and quantitative measures to capture the full range of potential impacts. This dual assessment provides a complete understanding of direct impacts, such as infrastructure damage, and indirect consequences, like disruptions to livelihoods. An evaluation of risk tolerance follows, defining acceptable levels of risk and helping prioritize the most urgent interventions. This clarity on risk thresholds ensures that resources are directed to where they are most needed. Finally, the methodology identifies feasible, cost-effective measures to mitigate, adapt to, or prevent potential losses and damages. This step aligns recommended actions with budget and policy constraints, ensuring that interventions are practical and impactful. By adopting this structured approach, decision-makers can better manage climate risks, develop adaptive strategies, and enhance resilience tailored to local needs and resources. Source: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) #sustainability #sustainable #business #esg #climatechange #climateaction

Third-Party Risk: The Hidden Cybersecurity Battlefield in Modern Supply Chains In our interconnected digital ecosystem, your security posture is only as strong as your weakest vendor. Modern enterprises rely on 100s of third-party vendors, creating an exponentially expanding attack surface. Supply chain attacks have become the preferred vector for sophisticated threat actors. Instead of targeting well-defended enterprises directly, attackers exploit vulnerabilities in trusted vendors to simultaneously breach hundreds of downstream organizations. Game-Changing Examples SolarWinds (2020): Compromised software updates affected 18,000+ customers including Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, demonstrating how a single vendor breach cascades across entire sectors. MOVEit (2023): A single vulnerability led to data breaches affecting over 600 organizations globally, showcasing the massive scale of modern supply chain impacts. Why Third-Party Risk Monitoring is Critical Continuous Visibility: Traditional annual assessments are insufficient. Organizations need real-time monitoring of vendor security posture, breach notifications, and compliance status changes. Risk Amplification: When attackers target managed service providers or software vendors, the impact multiplies across all their clients. One compromised vendor can expose thousands of organizations simultaneously. Regulatory Liability: With GDPR, CCPA, and emerging supply chain regulations, organizations face increasing liability for third-party security failures. Proactive monitoring demonstrates due diligence. Building Effective Defense Continuous Assessment: Implement real-time vendor risk scoring across your entire ecosystem Zero Trust Extension: Apply least-privilege access controls to all third-party connections Incident Response Integration: Ensure your IR plans account for vendor breaches with clear communication protocols Contractual Protection: Update vendor agreements with security requirements and liability provisions The Bottom Line Organizations can no longer treat vendor risk as procurement afterthought. The question isn't whether your supply chain will be targeted — it's whether you'll detect and respond effectively when it happens. The strongest security programs extend beyond organizational boundaries to create defensible ecosystems, not just defensible enterprises. #ThirdPartyRisk #TRPM #SupplyChainAttack #CyberSecurity

⏰ How To Improve Your Time Estimates (https://lnkd.in/egWd45RF), an honest article of lessons learned from going massively over on a fixed-price contract — with action points on what our estimates typically miss, how to estimate better and how to be prepared when things go sideways. By Dave Stewart. ✅ “Planned work” may be as little as 20% of the total project effort. ✅ “Extra work” increases proportionally to the complexity of the work. ✅ Account for changes (20%) and unexpected slowdowns (15%). ✅ Access to data, docs, tools, people is a huge estimate trap. ✅ Run postmortems on past projects to anchor yourself to reality. ✅ Estimate with at most 6–6.5 productive hours per day. ✅ Always estimate in ranges, and never in precise numbers. ✅ Safe way to estimate better is to estimate smaller units of work. ✅ Always add at least 15–20% of buffer time: you will need them. ✅ Every new team member speeds up the work by 1.5–1.8×. 🚫 Troubles start when designers aren’t involved in estimates. 🚫 Stakeholders rarely know what causes delays and extra costs. ✅ Re-iterate that late changes are expensive and cause delays. ✅ Life is full of surprises: budget too much, not too little. ✅ When in trouble, raise a hand, rather than doubling down. As Dave has rightfully noted, much of the work we do is actually happening “around the work” — on the fringes of the project, before, between and beyond actual design work. It covers everything, from daily routine tasks (emails, meetings, reports) to complex dependencies, unknowns and legacy limitations. In the past, I was always trying to underpromise and overdeliver. I was thinking that ultimately that would put me in a good light — appearing as accountable, reliable and committed to quality work, despite the initial scope. Yet it has also resulted in poor estimates, delays, late night work and overlapping projects. So instead, I started dedicating time into drafting a very detailed scope of work to estimate better. Typically it includes: 1. That’s how we understood the problem, 2. That’s what we believe the solution requires, 3. That’s the breakdown of tasks we’ll do, 4. That’s the assumptions we make, 5. That’s dependencies we uncovered, 6. That’s data, docs, tools, people need to be involved, 7. That’s how we are planning to solve it, 8. That’s when stakeholder’s (timely) input will be needed, 9. That’s milestones and timelines we commit to, 10. That’s the fixed scope of our final delivery, 11. That’s the delivery date we commit to, 12. That’s how pricing and payment will work, 13 That’s how we’ll deal with late adjustments and scope changes. And most importantly: for every step of the process — in emails, calls, meetings — make sure to mention that late scope changes are very expensive and will eventually cause delays. So ask for the best channels and frequency for communication with stakeholders. Chances are high that you will need it. #ux #design

✈️ Human Factors & Decision-Making: when there’s no time to hesitate The scene lasts only seconds. Runway not clear. A Concorde on short final. No margin for debate. 👉 Go-around. From a Human Factors perspective, this is a textbook case: 1️⃣ Situational Awareness The crew acts on what is, not on what should be. The runway isn’t clear. Period. 2️⃣ Time-critical decision making “The decision must be made in the next few seconds.” Delaying a decision is a decision—and usually the wrong one. 3️⃣ Proper use of authority No negotiation with risk. No “maybe it will work.” The commander decides and executes. 4️⃣ Real safety culture A go-around is not a failure. It’s a trained, normal maneuver designed to break the accident chain. 5️⃣ Clear, disciplined communication Standard phraseology. Short messages. No unnecessary explanations when margins are zero. 🔴 Key lesson Safety is not about being right—it’s about deciding on time. In aviation (and many other industries), accidents rarely come from lack of knowledge, but from delayed decisions under pressure. Sometimes, the most professional decision is not to continue. #HumanFactors #DecisionMaking #GoAround #AviationSafety #OperationalSafety #CRM #SituationalAwareness #SafetyCulture

✨ What Is Vendor Risk Management (VRM) in Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM)? More than a framework—it’s the backbone of Data & Business Resilience! 🚀 👉 Vendor Risk Management is how you: Identify your third-party vendors. Assess the risks they introduce. Monitor compliance & performance continuously. Ensure they meet your security, privacy & regulatory standards. 🚨 Today’s organizations lean on vendors for cloud, data processing, supply chains, and IT services. Neglect your vendor ecosystem, and you’re widening your attack surface without even knowing it. ✅ TPRM Step-by-Step Process: 1️⃣ Vendor Onboarding: Business unit submits vendor request. Vendor completes security questionnaire & shares SOC2/ISO27001/GDPR docs. 2️⃣ TPRM Team Review: Initial risk assessment based on criticality & data sensitivity. 3️⃣ GRC Platform Centralization: All docs, risk scores & contracts in one place—your single source of truth. 4️⃣ Risk Monitoring: Real-time alerts, periodic reassessments & breach notifications. 5️⃣ Reporting Engine: Dashboards deliver live visibility into vendor risk levels. 6️⃣ Approval Committee: Compliance board reviews & approves, reassesses, or offboards vendors. 7️⃣ Inventory Integration: Approved vendors go live in internal systems for safe, risk-vetted orders. 📌 Performing a Vendor Risk Assessment: 1️⃣ Classify the Vendor: Critical vs. non-critical? Sensitive data handler? 2️⃣ Collect Due Diligence: Standardized questionnaires, audit reports & compliance certificates. 3️⃣ Score the Risk: Low/Medium/High based on: – Data sensitivity. – Access level. – Jurisdiction. – Incident history. 4️⃣ Document Everything: Store assessments & contracts in your GRC platform. 5️⃣ Monitor Continuously: Expired-certification alerts. Annual reassessments. Breach notifications. 6️⃣ Report & Escalate: Dashboards flag high-risk vendors. Escalate to leadership or committees for action. 🔒 Secure your supply chain. Empower your resilience. #TPRM #RiskManagement #CyberSecurity #VendorRisk #Compliance #ElSamaryma #MamdouhElSamary #GRC #Infosec #ThirdPartyRisk #TPRMFramework #Audit #VendorDueDiligence #ISO27001 #SOC2

We trusted them. That made the dispute worse. I spoke on a panel recently about dispute resolution. The very first question came to me: “𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲, 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵?” I said: Because not all trust protects you. Some of it actually makes things worse. The silence in the room spoke volumes. We like to believe trust is a buffer. That it makes relationships “safe.” But in practice, I’ve seen it do the opposite. Trust, when it’s shallow, mismatched, or never stress tested, can give you a false sense of security. Then conflict hits, and everything fractures. Some trust can survive pressure. Some gets exposed by it. Here’s what I’ve seen over and over again: → 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 can be rebuilt → 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 takes the longest to repair → 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 (“they’ll deliver”) is resilient → “𝗡𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝘁” 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 often the most dangerous. → 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 (“they have our best interests at heart”) is vulnerable And in high-stakes negotiations or long term partnerships, most people 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴. They just assume it’s strong, until it's tested! For relationships to survive disputes Don’t avoid tension. Build for it. → Create psychological safety → Track trust in real-time, not just in retros → Structure contracts for repair, not just prevention → Make it okay to raise concerns 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 the damage is done Trust isn’t avoiding discomfort. It’s knowing how the relationship holds when a dispute shows up. So the question worth asking isn’t: - “𝘋𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳?” - It’s “𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥?” That’s where the real relationship lives. I’d like to hear from you: What’ve you seen help (or harm) trust during a dispute? Let’s raise the bar for how trust is built 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱. ----------------------------------------------- My free newsletter is where I share the expert stuff that doesn’t fit in a post. One email a week - focused, useful, and real. Join me: https://lnkd.in/gseUj6US

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆. Let’s stop pretending surprises are the problem. In my work as a PM coach and AI strategist, I see the same silent cost killers across industries and domains. If you're serious about preventing budget blowouts—start here 👇 𝟭. 𝗩𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 ↳ If the goals aren’t clear, neither are the numbers. 👉 Clarity isn't optional. It's the foundation of budget integrity. 𝟮. 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗕𝗶𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 ↳ “Best-case scenario” isn’t a budget. It’s a trap. 👉 Historical data + pessimism + AI = your best shot at accuracy. 𝟯. 𝗜𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 ↳ Integration. Training. Stakeholder churn. Rework. 👉 Out of sight ≠ , out of scope. Name them. Cost them. 𝟰. 𝗡𝗼 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 ↳ The scope will change. Budget should too. 👉 Add a formal change reserve—or prepare for firefighting. 𝟱. 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 ↳ Risks are registered. But are they costed? 👉 Great PMs budget for risk like CFOs budget for downturns. 🔁 𝗕𝗢𝗡𝗨𝗦: 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗡𝗼 𝗢𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿 ↳ “Finance owns the numbers.” “PM owns the plan.” 👉 Translation: No one owns the result. Fix that first. 💡 Budget overruns aren’t fate. They’re friction. And with modern tools—especially AI—we can now identify and mitigate cost drivers before they escalate. Curious how? That’s what I coach. 👇 𝗗𝗿𝗼𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀. 💬 𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗱𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆. ♻️ Repost to help PMs control costs without killing team morale. 💾 Save this post for later—it’s your quick checklist for budget sanity. ➕ And follow Markus Kopko ✨ for more. #projectmanagement #budgetcontrol #pmcoach