ABSTRACT
A project might be considered risky whenever at least one-either the likelihood or the impact-is large. For example, a project will be considered risky when the potential impact is human fatality or massive fi nancial loss even when the likelihood is small. (Risk can also mean opportunities-e.g., the potential for additional rewards, savings, or benefi ts. Typically, however, risk identifi cation is focused on the risk of failure.)
Many managers are accustomed to dealing with facts, fi gures, and hard numbers, so they fi nd the concept of risk and the unknown hard to deal with. Faced with uncertainty, they prefer to ignore that there might be problems-though, of course, that doesn’t make the problems go away.
