A risk mitigation plan is designed to eliminate or minimize the impact of the risk events—occurrences that have a negative impact on the project. Identifying risk is ...SkiptocontentMainBodyEventhemostcarefullyplannedprojectcanrunintotrouble.Nomatterhowwellyouplan,yourprojectcanalwaysencounter unexpectedproblems.Teammembersgetsickorquit,resourcesthatyouweredependingonturnouttobeunavailable,eventheweathercanthrowyouforaloop(e.g.,asnowstorm).Sodoesthatmeanthatyou’rehelplessagainstunknownproblems?No!Youcanuseriskplanningtoidentifypotentialproblemsthatcouldcausetroubleforyourproject,analyzehowlikelythey areto occur,takeactiontopreventtherisksyoucanavoid,andminimizetheonesthatyoucan’t.Ariskisanyuncertaineventorconditionthatmightaffectyourproject.Notallrisksarenegative.Someevents(likefindinganeasierwaytodoanactivity)orconditions(likelowerpricesforcertainmaterials)canhelpyourproject.Whenthishappens,wecallitanopportunity;butit’sstillhandledjustlikearisk.Therearenoguaranteesonanyproject.Eventhesimplestactivitycanturnintounexpectedproblems.Anythingthatmightoccurto changetheoutcomeofaprojectactivity,wecallthatarisk.Ariskcanbeanevent(likeasnowstorm)oritcanbeacondition(likeanimportantpartbeingunavailable).Eitherway,it’ssomethingthatmayormaynothappen…butifitdoes,thenitwillforceyoutochangethewayyouandyourteamworkontheproject.Ifyourprojectrequiresthatyoustandontheedgeofacliff,thenthere’sariskthatyoucouldfall.Ifit’sverywindyoutorifthegroundisslipperyanduneven,thenfallingismorelikely(Figure16.1).Figure16.1RiskManagementOptionsWhenyou’replanningyourproject,risksarestilluncertain:theyhaven’thappenedyet.Buteventually,someoftherisksthatyouplanfordohappen,andthat’swhenyouhavetodealwiththem.Therearefourbasicwaystohandlearisk.Avoid:Thebestthingyoucandowithariskisavoidit.Ifyoucanpreventitfromhappening,itdefinitelywon’thurtyourproject.Theeasiestwaytoavoidthisriskistowalkawayfromthecliff,butthatmaynotbeanoptiononthisproject.Mitigate:Ifyoucan’tavoidtherisk,youcanmitigateit.Thismeanstakingsomeso