Risk Management – Resolution of Risks

Risk Management – Resolution of Risks (#39 in the Hut A Project Management Primer)
By Nick Jenkins

Once you have profiled your risk they can be ranked into an ordered list representing the various threats to the project to be dealt with. The more significant can then be examined and assigned an action by the project team.

Typical actions are:

Research: The risk is not yet fully understood. Its impact or likelihood of occurrence may be unclear or the context in which it may occur could seem unreasonable. Further research by members of the project team is warranted.

Accept: The risk is unavoidable and must be accepted as-is. This category of risks become extremely important to a project since they cannot be resolved but still represent a threat to completion. Anticipation therefore become the key to dealing with this category of risk.

Reduce: The risk as it stands is unacceptable. The project team must act to reduce the risk and to establish contingency plans should the risk occur. The risk will have to reviewed in future to define the threat it poses.

Eliminate: The risk is unacceptable under any circumstances and must be eliminated as a possibility. The project team must put in place processes and procedures not only to ensure the immediate threat is eliminated but that it does not re-occur in the future.

Next in the Hut A Project Management Primer:

Risk Management – Recording Risks

Previously in the Hut A Project Management Primer:

Risk Management – Risk Profiles

Nick Jenkins is an IT manager with 10 years experience in software development, project management and software testing. He’s worked in various fields of IT development in Australia, Britain and the USA and occasionally he learned something along the way. Now he lives on the banks of the Swan River in Perth, Western Australia, and he publishes the odd guide to help aspiring IT professionals. Nick’s website can be found at www.nickjenkins.net.