CHAPTER 1 Risk Management As a Project Management Process

It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely the lukewarm defense in those who would gain by the new ones.

—MACHIAVELLI

The art of project management consists of many processes. As defined by the Project Management Institute in the PMBOK® Guide, there are five essential project management processes, as shown in Figure 1-1. For reference, we define these processes simply as follows:

• Initiating processes—Obtaining commitment to begin a project

• Planning processes—Establishing a plan to accomplish the business need that the project addresses

• Executing processes—Coordinating the people and other resources assigned to the project

• Controlling processes—Ensuring achievement of project goals through monitoring and measuring progress so that remedial action can take place in a timely fashion

• Closing processes—formalizing completion of the project by acceptance of final deliverables, leading to an orderly project end.