Week 1 Discussion 1
“What is
Risk?” Please respond to the following:
Risk concerns both positive and
negative aspects of an event. Analyze why it is important to consider both
perspectives when addressing risk for an organization. Include an example
to support your response.Evaluate how threats and opportunities
can be used to an organization’s advantage when developing the risk management
plan. Argue the value of having a risk strategy despite the cost
associated with it. Include an example to support your response.

Week 1 Discussion 2
Top of Form
“Planning for Risk” Please
respond to the following:
There are three schools of thought regarding risk. The
first considers the positive and negative aspects of risk, but sees them
as separate. The second group believes that there are benefits from
treating threats and opportunities together, while the third school does
not label uncertainties, but addresses uncertainty as part of “doing the
job.” Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of each
approach. Respond to another student’s post (ground students will discuss
their positions).Choose a project with risks and select one approach
from Part 1 of this discussion for the project you chose. Provide a
rationale for your selection and determine how this approach helps the
project to be successful. Be sure to identify the project you have
selected.
Week 2 Discussion 1

“Need for Risk
Management” Please respond to the following:
Analyze why it is important to address
risk through the entire project life cycle. Identify three possible
negative results that can occur if an organization fails to address risk
in different phases of the project life cycle.Determine three obstacles for an
organization to manage risk effectively. Suggest strategies from the
perspective of a project manager to avoid the obstacles.
Week 2 Discussion 2

“Critical
Success Factors” Please respond to the following:
There are four critical success
factors that are important for effective risk management: supportive
organization; competent people; appropriate methods, tools and techniques;
and simple, scalable process. Predict the outcome of a project if any of
these critical success factors is absent for a project. Support your
predictions.Recommend how you would approach the
stakeholders of the project and persuade them that the missing critical
success factor(s) must be addressed in order to maximize a successful
project. Support your response.

Week
3 Discussion 1
Top of
Form
“Project
Initiation” Please respond to the following:
One
of the most important aspects of managing risk for a project is to accurately
define the size of the project. Determine the criteria that must be
considered to perform the project sizing and create one additional factor
with rationale.Suppose
the size of the project was not determined correctly and a large, complex
project was defined as a medium project instead. Predict the outcome of
the risk management process within this organization. Include examples
(i.e., the incorrect schedule of the risk management review, incorrect
schedule of quantitative assessments) to support your prediction.

Week 3 Discussion 2

“Stakeholder
Analysis” Please respond to the following:
Using the “Stakeholder Analysis
Template” (Appendix B2 in the Hillson and Simon text) for a company that
you currently work for or you are familiar with, determine the key
stakeholders and categorize them by their attitude, power, and interest
dimensions. Justify the categorization for each stakeholder and post the
completed appendix for the class to see.Analyze how stakeholder analysis
affects the overall project risk management within an organization. Include
an example to support your response.
Week
4 Discussion 1
Top of
Form
“Identifying
and Mitigating Risks” Please respond to the following:
Imagine
you are considering opening a specialty pet store in your area. Create a
list of the five most significant risks that you must address prior to
making your decision regarding the viability of your venture. Justify the
risks.Speculate
how you would mitigate each risk identified in Part 1 of this discussion;
determine the tools and methodologies you would choose to mitigate them.

Week 4 Discussion 2
Top of Form
“Defining Risks” Please
respond to the following:
Imagine you have addressed the risks identified in
Discussion 1. Now you have decided to proceed with your plan to open the
pet store. Determine your potential stakeholders in the venture and
analyze how they affect your risk management plan.Determine the strategies to bring this group of people
together and convince them that you have a winning idea for your business.
Support your response.
Bottom of Form

Week 5 Discussion 1

“Risk
Perception” Please respond to the following:
Imagine an organization decides to
hire an outside vendor to produce products instead of manufacturing them
in house. Using the information presented in “Common Influences on Risk
Perception” Figure 6-3 (Hillson and Simon text), determine the conscious
factors, subconscious factors, and affective factors for this project.
Analyze how awareness of those factors influences the decision of hiring
outside vendor. In addition, analyze how those factors help improve the
overall facilitation and effectiveness of the risk management.Determine what is important to
consider when making the announcement to the affected employees. Speculate
on how you would address the issues and or concerns of the impacted
employees.

Week 5 Discussion 2

“Risk
Responsibility” Please respond to the following:
It is important to identify
responsible individuals to be risk owners. Imagine you have identified the
highest risk for your project and you plan to assign responsibilities to
an individual. Compose a list of at least eight questions that you would
want to have the individual answer satisfactorily before you assign the
responsibilities. Provide a rationale for the creation of your list.Determine the feedback you would want
from this individual to ensure that you choose the right risk owner for
the highest risk identified from Part 1 of this discussion. Support your
response.

Week 6 Discussion 1
Top of Form
“Possible Risk Impacts”
Please respond to the following:
Using Table 5.4 Possible Risk Impacts, (Chapter 5 of
the Heldman text), select the top-three most critical risks regardless of
the size or scope of a project. Justify your selection.Suggest strategies for the project manager to address
each type of the risks selected in Part 1 of this discussion. Support your
suggestion.

Week 6 Discussion 2
Top of Form
“Quantitative Risk
Analysis” Please respond to the following:
After reviewing the Monte Carlo Analysis method
presented in Chapter 15 of the Hillson and Simon text, justify why a
project manager would request the use of this methodology for a large,
complex project. Include an example to support your response.When an organization cannot justify the use of a method
such as Monte Carlo, recommend an alternative tool that would allow the
project manager to make informed decisions. Provide a rationale for your
recommendation.
Week 7 Discussion 1
Top of Form
“Response Strategies”
Please respond to the following:
After a risk workshop has been completed, risk
interviews are often completed with subject matter experts. Assess the
value of the interviews to identify risk response strategies. Provide one
example of a subject area you would expect to be addressed in the interview
and explain why.Give your opinion as to why it is important to work
high-priority opportunities prior to working high-priority threats.
Analyze how those opportunities help you with the rest of your risk
mitigation strategies for a project.
Week 7 Discussion 2
Top of Form
“Planning for Unknowns”
Please respond to the following:
Evaluate your project management options in terms of
schedule, performance, and cost for the following scenario. Support your
evaluation.
An office building construction
project is 80% complete in the southern Virginia area, when a major hurricane
strikes, and stops progress on the worksite for 10 days while damage is assessed
and repairs are completed. The project has a fixed budget and a completion date
that cannot be moved any further to the right.
From Part 1 of the ‘Planning for Unknowns” discussion,
analyze how your strategy would be different if you had a contingency
reserve budget, but still could not change the project completion date.
Support your analysis.

Week 8 Discussion 1
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Top of Form
“Ongoing Risk Management”
Please respond to the following:
Analyze why it is important to constantly monitor
active risks, while continuing to identify new risks. Include an example
to support your response.In many risk programs, risks are managed individually.
However, a robust risk program considers the cumulative effect of all
risks. Assess the following scenario to identify the effect of multiple
events on a risk management strategy:

When the Titanic struck the iceberg, the weather was bad, the lookouts
were not properly equipped, the radio operator was not monitoring other
ship traffic in the area, and the ship design had a major flaw in the
construction of the hull’s “watertight” compartments.
Week 9 Discussion 1
Top of Form
“Post-Project Review”
Please respond to the following:
Assess the importance of completing post-project
reviews, and determine what project documentation must be updated as a
result of the review meeting. Discuss the risks associated with failing to
complete the documentation to the organization. Discuss how this should be
handled when not completed from a managerial perspective.Identify the benefits of a complete risk register for a
subsequent phase of a project. Speculate on the consequence of project
management without a complete risk register. Include an example to support
your response.
Week 9 Discussion 2
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Top of Form
“Small-Project
Application” Please respond to the following:
Compare and contrast the differences in the ATOM
methodology for large versus small projects. Analyze why it is important
to address these differences when preparing the initial project plan.Analyze the impact on the budget and other project
resources if a tailored process for a small project is not employed.
Include an example or scenario to support your response.
Week 10 Discussion 1
Top of Form
“ATOM for Large Projects”
Please respond to the following:
Debate whether or not the cost of utilizing ATOM for
large projects is justified when an organization has limited resources to
dedicate to risk management efforts. Provide a description that you would
present to your managers to persuade them to see matters your way.Select a fortune 500 company and propose how to use
each step of the ATOM process for a project to implement a new human
resources management system for the company.
Week 10 Discussion 2
Top of Form
“Project Lessons Learned”
Please respond to the following:
Using Figure 16-2, “Sources of Risks at the Program
Level” from the Hillson and Simon text as the basis for your discussion,
provide three reasons why it would be appropriate to address risks at all
levels in the organization.As the ATOM methodology has been presented in this
course, its usefulness has been demonstrated for an individual project.
Analyze whether or not changes would be necessary to use the ATOM
methodology to manage risk for a program versus for an individual project.
Include an example to support your analysis.

Week 11 Discussion 1
Top of Form
“Methodology Comparasion”
Please respond to the following:
From the e-Activity, choose one project risk management
methodology (not ATOM), compare and contrast the steps of the methodology
you chose with ATOM. Provide an example of how each methodology is clearly
used.Determine if you would choose ATOM as the most
significant methodology for all of your project risk management. Justify
whether or not you would replace the one you researched with ATOM. Support
your response.
Bottom of Form
Week
11 Discussion 2
Top of
Form
“Course
Lessons Learned” Please respond to the following:
Identify
three concepts that you have learned in this course that will be useful
for project work in your current organization.Explain
how you would justify the use of the three concepts identified to other
members of your organization.