Risk Assessment

Where are the risks? What should you worry about, and at what cost?

Risk falls into many categories:

• Technical Risk — Can it work?
• Capability Risk — Does the team know how to do it?
• IP Risk — Can we patent the idea? Has someone else?
• Market Risk — Will anyone buy it?
• Mission Risk — Does the team have the authority?
• Personnel Risk — What if a critical person leaves?

I work with the teams searching for weak points in the plan, for places where hand waiving stands in for facts. These are often points of risk.

Nothing is without risk. Known risks can be intelligently handled. Unknown risks invite surprise, team confusion, demotivation, and possible failure.

Risks are a normal part of product development. Management mitigates the risks. Sometimes the development is done is a different order to address high-risk points first to either allow more development time or set an earlier “no-go” decision point.