Question

Are the risk responses for threats or opportunities more important for project managers? Why?

Answer 1

Risk response is the process of controlling identified risk. It is a basic step in planning any proejct and it is imperative for project managers to plan for each type of risk that may occur. The risk response plan is a document where all stakeholders define each risk and outline strategies to deal with each risk and identify responsible personnel for the same.

It is the job of a project manager to ensure that threats are avoided or planned for . It is equally important for a project manager to ensure that good opportunities occur and when they do occur, the project team is in a position to exploit and take advantage of the opportunity.

Some examples of risk response strategies for threats include:

1. AVOID - try and avoid or focus on eliminating the threat

2. MITIGATE -where a threat is unavoidable, ensure that the impact is less

3. TRANSFER - transfer the risk of the threat to some place else.

Some examples of risk response strategies to deal withopportunities include:

1. EXPLOIT - make changes to workflow/team to ensure that the opportunity occurs.

2. ENHANCE - increase the probability and positive impact of risk events

3.SHARE -Allocate responsibility for exploiting opporunities within team or to a third party

What is more important is a judgemental and subjective decision which typically depends upon

1. Project leader : risk taking ability , charisma to carry along team in decision etc

2 composition of team : how aligned they are to leader

3. Criticality of project in overall framework : many mission critical projects require dedication and avoidance of distraction. So here the focus is to avoid any threats that can derail the project and cause costs or time over-runs rather than looking for oportunities .