Chapter 9: Risk Management

Overview

Risk is an ever-present factor in software and its environment, but what is risk?

IEEE Standard 1228-1994 defines risk as "a measure that combines both the likelihood that a system hazard will cause an accident and the severity of that accident."

Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Ninth Edition includes a definition of risk as "a dangerous element or factor."

Both definitions suggest that risk is the threat of a negative situation and an evaluation of that threat.

In this book, we recognize the difference between risk and safety. Chapter 8 addresses safety issues. In this chapter, we will consider risks to successful projects and the quality practitioner's roles in helping to reduce or eliminate those risks.