Identifying and Managing Project Risk, 2nd Edition

Chapter 5

Identifying Project Resource Risk

“If you want a track team to win the high jump,you find one person who can jump seven feet,not several people who can jump six feet.”—FREDERICK TERMAN, STANFORD UNIVERSITYDEAN AND PROFESSOR OF ENGINEERING

Fred Terman is probably best known as the “father of Silicon Valley.” He encouraged Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, the Varian brothers, and hundreds of others to start businesses near Stanford University. Starting in the 1930s, alarmed at the paucity of job opportunities in the area, he helped his students start companies, set up the Stanford Industrial Park, and generally was responsible for the establishment of the world’s largest high-tech center. He was good at identifying and nurturing technical ...