Managing Risk: Methods for Software Systems Development

15 Develop the Plan

Success or failure is often determined on the drawing board.

—Robert J. McKain

A risk management plan incorporates the documented goals, strategy, and methods for performing risk management on a project. The purpose of developing such a plan is to determine the approach for performing risk management cost-effectively on the project. The plan should be long enough to convey this information to project participants. For a small project, the risk management plan might be only 5 pages long. For a large project, the plan might grow to 20 pages. The plan may be a separate document or part of a larger plan (e.g., project management plan, system engineering master plan, or software development plan).

The risk management plan develops ...