ABSTRACT

Humans have been undertaking projects for millennia, with more or less formality, and with greater or lesser degrees of success. We have also recognised the existence of risk for about the same period of time, understanding that things don’t always go according to plan for a range of reasons. In relatively recent times these two phenomena have coalesced into the formal discipline called project risk management, offering a structured framework for identifying and managing risk within the context of projects. Given the prevalence and importance of the subject, we might expect that project risk management would be fully mature by now, only needing occasional minor tweaks and modifications to enhance its efficiency and performance. Surely there is nothing new to be said about managing risk in projects?