Identifying and Managing Project Risk, 2nd Edition

Chapter 3

Identifying Project Scope Risk

“Well begun is half done.”—ARISTOTLE

Although beginning well will never actually complete half of a project, beginning poorly will lead to disappointment, rework, stress, and potential failure. A great deal of project risk can be discovered at the earliest stages of project work, when defining the scope of the project.

For risks associated with the elements of the project management triple constraint (scope, schedule, and resources), scope risk generally will be considered first. Of the three types of projects that will fail—those that are beyond your capabilities, those that are overconstrained, and those that are ineffectively executed—the first type is the most significant, because this type of project ...