What is the difference between a risk and an issue?
Anonymous
I am working with some folks who are PMs but not in the IT field. I'm a PM in the IS department and couldn't actually come up with a good clear distinction between an issue and a risk for the folks that I'm working with. Can someone help me define these two? Thanks. Saving Changes...
Steve HillPrinciple Consultant| LiquidHub IncReading, Pa, United States
It seems the majority agree with the view, as do I, that classifying items by actuality (issue) and potentiality (risk) are most easily acceptable to those we must manage. I have a concern, however about one comment I read stating among other perceived differences is that you assign issues to people. The inference here is that one would not assign people to specific risks. While this may follow the PMI format, it is not a necessary requirement. I have been assigning risks to people for years. To not do so would be foolish as I am the manager, not the expert on all technical topics. This speaks to a larger issue; do not asume that commonly available templates and process are perfected. If that were the case, this entire site and others like it would be pointless. We improve by innovation and the adaptaion of accepted practices to fill our specific needs. Don't ignore or minimize the lessons learned from the past (i.e. Do not ignore risk), but do feel free to adapt any template, process or precept as neccessary to better and responsibly manage your projects. Saving Changes...
Gabrielle MaherPMO Consultant| IndependentLondon, London, United Kingdom
Hi - I would say the different between a risk and an issue is that a risk is defined as the probability of a future event that may negatively impact your projct.
Whereas an issue is a live risk - meaning the negative event has happened - it is a current / live problem and needs to be mitigated.
Gabrielle Saving Changes...
Michael WoodProject Manager / Business Analyst / Business Process Improvement Guru| Independent ContractorGig Harbor, Wa, United States
An issue may not have anything risky about it. Someone might have an issue (concern) about your tie or the cut of your hair. Not necessarily risky just don't like it. A risk has a downside to it; a negative consequence. For example, What is the downside of the project not finishing on time. What is the odds of it not finishing is also an aspect of risk as risk usually has a probability component.
Risk is a possible event (may or may not happen) that will have an impact on the project. Issue is a current problem that needs to be resolved . Also, according to PMI, there could be both negative and positive risks to a project. But, an issue in a project only indicates a problem. Saving Changes...
Michael WellesManaging Director| EdWel Project and Risk Management TrainingChicago, Il, United States
First, you need to communicate the purpose and importance of the project's timing plan to your team. It is your baseline. It is your judgment of how the project should be executed under normal (most likely) conditions. During the development of this plan, you knowingly or unknowingly conducted a risk assessment. This is the "normal".
Now, any potential variability to your timing plan either hazard or opportunity is considered a risk. Think of it like a commodity broker on a trading floor in Chicago, risk is volatility - alpha/beta. With all of the volatility in the markets lately, I am sure more people have become familiar with the Vix or risk index.
From there, it is either a subjective or objective call as to what you should do. If you are using a subjective mechanism to assess a risk's impact, you will probably look at the risk from the perspective of high, medium, or low. Using a more objective metric, such as VaR (Value at Risk) or our tool Range Forward Risk Management provides a more nuanced assessment.
Sheanette MorelandQuality Lab Technician| MacLean FiberglassNewberry, Sc, United States
In any organization and/or business, risks can sometimes lead to failure, ineffective structure, cost, just to name a few. Issues can occur if there are team members that are not familiar with the project or assignment; including an unskillful worker. Issues can also result with customer complaint, problem analysis, and misinformation. Just my point-of-view from a first look.
Risk - denotes the probability of an event.
Issue - is a problem or a defect. You can also say the "issue" is a negative event ".
Best Regards,
Vivekanandan M Saving Changes...
Anonymous
With all the discussions related to what is a Risk and what is an Issue, and since in all instances I can remember reviews of Risks and Issues take place at the same time why don't we call them all Project Impact Items (PII) and use our professional ability to define the mitigation needed to resolve the PII.
In other words, why bother differentiating between Risks and Issues? Saving Changes...
Peter WrightProgramme Manager| BAE SystemsSouthport, Merseyside, United Kingdom
As can be seen by the posts there are many differing views and not one singular place where you can compare this depending on your business/project and stakeholders.
I have posted an Open Source Risk and Issues Log where I tried to capture the differing "official views" of a risk and an issue.
In the Project Dashboard select the Management Method in row 29 and this shoudl return those risks/issue statements that I have manage to collate over the years.
Please note though this is mainly Technical Risk methods and not financial etc.
As you will see different methodologies have different descriptions and you have to tailor that to the business and the project you are in.
If anyone can provide statemeent from other "manuals (e.g. CIMA)" I can include these into the RAID Log template.
