It appears to be a pretty straightforward question:
Who is responsible for risk management within Digital projects?
I hope you don’t say it is the Project Manager (PM). How could a PM be responsible for managing all project risks? The role of the PM is to set up a risk management framework for the project team to follow. Then, the PM ensures that the Project Team consistently follows that framework. However, PM is not responsible for managing all the risks.
Risk Management is the joint responsibility of the Project team and stakeholders. In Digital projects, there can be different types of risks (e.g. financial, change management, technical, regulatory). Risk owners are responsible for managing (monitor, reviewing, and controlling) the risks assigned to them. The Risk Owner can be part of the Project team (Solution Architect, Developer, PM) or a stakeholder (Project Sponsor, Executive).
The key is to educate the Project team and stakeholders about the importance of risk management and framework. Everyone involved in the project should proactively report risks. The PM must set a process to monitor and review all risks among the relevant team members and stakeholders.
As a Project Sponsor, assess how mature is the risk management process and what you can do to improve it!
