ABSTRACT
In project management, obstacles that might get in the way of successful performance are carefully controlled using a technique called risk management. A risk is dened as something that might occur, where, if it did occur, would cause an impact on the planned activity
• that can be negative, causing increased cost, schedule slip, or an inability to meet the required scope
• that can be positive, in the sense that an opportunity can emerge from the risk that allows optimization through an unforeseen move forward of schedule, a lower cost solution, or a technical advancement
An obstacle is something that acts as a barrier to success. Overcoming obstacles on projects is about dealing with anything that could stand in the way of achieving successful outcomes. Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is most oen credited for capturing this phenomenon in this widely published description of risk. He said:
Fortunately, there is a project management method that provides the structure to minimize the impacts of potential obstacles. is method is risk management. Risk management focuses on dealing with the known knowns and the known unknowns. If potential future scenarios also are reviewed during the risk assessment process, some of the unknown unknowns might also be captured. However, most of
the risk that comes from unknown unknowns is not identiable. e reason is that it is just not possible to think through all of the eects that the project activities will have on the surrounding environment or what the eect of change will have as the project progresses.
