Risk Management

Question 1

What factors go into tailoring a project’s acceptable risk level?

Answer 1

Type of Mission; criticality of mission; acceptable risk level; national significance, complexity, mission lifetime, cost of mission, launch constraints.

Typically, high cost “Type A” projects don’t compromise on risk.

Question 2

Technical Risk Management

Answer 2

The Technical Risk Management Process is one of the crosscutting technical management processes. Risk is the potential for performance shortfalls, which may be realized in the future, with respect to achieving explicitly established and stated performance requirements.

Question 3

What are the four considerations in technical risk management?

Answer 3

Safety, technical, cost, schedule

Question 4

What are the three questions key to Risk Scenario Development?

Answer 4

1. What can go wrong? (definition of scenarios)
2. How frequently does it happen? (scenario frequency quantification)
3. What are the consequences? (scenario consequence quantification)

Question 5

Cost Risk

Answer 5

This is the risk associated with the ability of the program/project to achieve its life-cycle cost
objectives and secure appropriate funding. Two risk areas bearing on cost are (1) the risk that the cost
estimates and objectives are not accurate and reasonable; and (2) the risk that program execution will not
meet the cost objectives as a result of a failure to handle cost, schedule, and performance risks.

Question 6

Schedule Risk

Answer 6

Schedule risks are those associated with the adequacy of the time estimated and allocated
for the development, production, implementation, and operation of the system. Two risk areas bearing on
schedule risk are (1) the risk that the schedule estimates and objectives are not realistic and reasonable; and
(2) the risk that program execution will fall short of the schedule objectives as a result of failure to handle
cost, schedule, or performance risks.

Question 7

Technical Risk

Answer 7

This is the risk associated with the evolution of the design and the production of the
system of interest affecting the level of performance necessary to meet the stakeholder expectations and
technical requirements. The design, test, and production processes (process risk) influence the technical
risk and the nature of the product as depicted in the various levels of the PBS (product risk).

Question 8

Programmatic Risk

Answer 8

This is the risk associated with action or inaction from outside the project, over
which the project manager has no control, but which may have significant impact on the project. These
impacts may manifest themselves in terms of technical, cost, and/or schedule.

Question 9

Risk-Informed Decision Making

Answer 9

Risk-Informed Decision Making is the process of using quantitative risk data with a human interpretation to account for unknown variables or assumptions in the risk analysis.

Question 10

Continuous Risk Management

Answer 10

CRM is the use of objective data to make decisions to mitigate risk.