ABSTRACT
Given that risk management is an integral part of project management and that product development inevitably requires project management, it would seem that managing risk would occur as naturally as managing the schedule during a product development effort. This may be the case in a few years, but today genuine risk management often gets lost in the crunch to get the new product out the door. No other type of project is in greater need of risk management than product development. At the same time, our experience tells us that few product development projects today receive adequate risk management. The proven, cost-effective techniques provided are the reader keys to enhanced product development risk management. Typically, development teams make two timing mistakes regarding risk management. One is to wait until late in the project, when many risks start occurring, and then decide that they need to deal more seriously with risk.
