Risk-Response Strategies

Risk Response Strategies

The PMI PMBOK covers four categories of risk response techniques and explores ways to project risk management. These techniques, with the exception of “risk acceptance,” entail activities to remove or decrease the negative consequences of risk occurrences and threats. The four strategies are as follows:

• Avoidance: modifying a project plan (tasks, time, resources, etc.) to safeguard goals-against undesirable consequences
• Transference: entrusting the repercussions or responsibility of a risk to a third party. Transferring responsibility does not eliminate risk; rather, it moves it. The most typical risk-transfer approach is through well-designed contracts for specific aspects of the task.
• Mitigation: decrease in the likelihood and/or effects of an unfavourable risk event to a tolerable level Typically includes project controls for detecting risk occurrences early in a project and taking formal action before the consequences are severe.
• Acceptance: The project manager and team recognize the risk event or threat but do not alter the project plan or resources to address it.

Strategies for Risk Avoidance (Prepare plan and project controls to avoid or reduce impact)

• Determine and position other financing sources.
• Ensure that Project members have signed a charter and made a solid commitment to resources.
• Use personnel staffing choices that are not reliant on permanent positions 
• Train team members in complementing technical abilities.
• Engage, top management “Champion,” to assist in resolving resource or organizational issues.
• Use effective communication and meeting techniques to clearly allocate work and duties..
• Track task and action item completion and follow up as soon as milestones are missed.
• Avoid out-of-scope demands by using well-defined, rigorous delivery reviews and user approval procedures.
• Avoid roadblocks and confrontations, conduct legal and policy research, and develop official stances.
• Have solid system administration processes and tools in place to avoid difficulties (security breaches, data losses).
• Use industry standards and tried-and-true techniques to assure deliverable quality and to steer procurements.
• Give the project team and users thorough technical training and orientation.

Transference Techniques (Shift risk and responsibility to other party)

• Contracts for important project services should be unambiguous, with terms describing deliverables, timeframe, and performance expectations (e.g., database development).
• Make solid written agreements with any outside group regarding resource and manpower commitments.
• Use a private contract for critical project team jobs (contract staff).
• Make advantage of a contract change-order mechanism to make necessary revisions to contractual services/deliverables.
• Document methods for resolving contractor performance issues, including formal mediation and sanctions.

Strategies for Mitigation (Reduce probability or impact by identifying risk event early and taking action)

• Maintain effective contract management and monitoring, as well as contractual remedies for bad performance.
• Use user satisfaction surveys to evaluate consumer issues or difficulties.
• Begin a different approach to weather influence on field/aerial data collecting.
• Set up reliable system backup and disaster recovery methods.
• Establish mechanisms for monitoring technical performance (against plan and metrics).
• Begin a different approach to weather influence on field/aerial data collecting.
• Set up reliable system backup and disaster recovery methods.
• Establish mechanisms for monitoring technical performance (against plan and metrics).