Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage, Fifth Edition

Introduction: What is Project Risk?

1. LO 7.1 Define project risk.

Projects operate in an environment composed of uncertainty. There is uncertainty regarding project funding, the availability of necessary resources, changing client expectations, potential technical problems—the list is seemingly endless. This uncertainty forms the basis for project risk and the need to engage in risk management. Risk management, which recognizes the capacity of any project to run into trouble, is defined as the art and science of identifying, analyzing, and responding to risk factors throughout the life of a project and in the best interests of its objectives. The difference between projects that fail and those that are ultimately successful has nothing to do ...