Risk Responses

There are four possible risk response strategies for negative risks:

  1. Avoid – eliminate the threat to protect the project from the impact of the risk. An example of this is cancelling the project.
  2. Transfer – shifts the impact of the threat to as third party, together with ownership of the response. An example of this is insurance.
  3. Mitigate – act to reduce the probability of occurrence or the impact of the risk. An example of this is choosing a different supplier.
  4. Accept – acknowledge the risk, but do not take any action unless the risk occurs. An example of this is documenting the risk and putting aside funds in case the risk occurs.

There are also four possible risk responses strategies for positive risks, or opportunities:

  1. Exploit – eliminate the uncertainty associated with the risk to ensure it occurs. An example of this is assigning the best workers to a project to reduce time to complete.
  2. Enhance – increases the probability or the positive impacts of an opportunity. An example of this adding more resources to finish early.
  3. Share – allocating some or all of the ownership of the opportunity to a third party. An example of this is teams.
  4. Acceptance – being willing to take advantage of the opportunity if it arises but not actively pursuing it. An example of this is documenting the opportunity and calculating benefit if the opportunity occurs.