Mastering Risk and Procurement in Project Management: A Guide to Planning, Controlling, and Resolving Unexpected Problems

2. Identifying Risk

2.1 Introduction

One of the most important components in developing a project plan is the identification of potential problems or risks that could have a negative impact on project work activities. Project managers are usually busy developing the project schedule, working on the budget, and trying to allocate appropriate resources, but in the pressure of trying to accomplish those tasks, project risk is usually put as a lower priority—or due to a lack of time, simply not performed at all. This is unfortunate, as problems occur on all projects, and project managers usually find themselves in reactive response mode, performing damage control—rather than being in control mode, having proactively planned for problems and almost ...