In a global project, key definitions were developed in country A, and delivery will be completed in phases in countries B, C, and D. Country B discovers a legal requirement was not addressed. What should the project manager have done to avoid this?

The project manager should have identified regulatory differences among the countries during the planning phase. This proactive approach is part of thorough risk identification and stakeholder analysis, ensuring all legal requirements are known before execution. Failing to do so led to the discovery of an unaddressed legal requirement in Country B, causing potential delays and rework. Managing country-specific risk mitigation strategies is a subsequent step, only possible after identifying the risks themselves. Asking procurement to assign resources in each country might help with local knowledge, but it doesn't guarantee regulatory compliance if the initial identification wasn't done. Selecting countries with similar regulatory requirements is not always feasible or practical for global projects and doesn't address the core issue of understanding existing differences.