December 2008
Intermediate to advanced
334 pages
6h 14m
English
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CHAPTER 9
Handling Risk and Uncertainty
All projects experience a degree of risk and uncertainty. Projects are not predictable or certain—most are complex and changing, and are strongly affected by the dynamics of the environment, technology, and markets. The extent of unpredictability, contingency, and change will be different for different kinds of projects (Shenhar and Dvir 2007). Risk and uncertainty are the necessary evils in every project. No matter how much we plan, we cannot plan away risk and uncertainty. Because projects involve such a great deal of risk and uncertainty, they must be managed in a flexible manner. As a result, decisions cannot be rigid, fixed, or shaped once and for all but need to be viewed as adjustable and changing ...