Tuesday Brief: Identifying risks is the easy part. It's knowing what to do with them that separates struggling projects from successful ones. This week, we're cutting through the analysis paralysis with clear response strategies for both threats and opportunities, plus a look at how enterprise-level tools operationalize these concepts in real project environments.
October 14, 2025
In This Issue:
Featured Article: From Threats to Action - Strategic Risk Response That Works
Video Tutorial: Managing Risk Parameters in Primavera P6 Professional
Community Poll: Your Biggest Risk Management Challenge
Live Event (10/15): From Chaos to Control – Managing Risks with Primavera P6
PM Best Practices: The Priority-Based Response Framework
Featured Article: From Threats to Action - Strategic Risk Response That Works
You've identified the risks. You've scored them. Now what? Most project managers stop at the risk register, but that's where the real work begins. A decade ago, author Satya Narayan Dash inherited a project that had run for a year without a single customer release, paralyzed by unresolved risks that everyone knew about but no one addressed.
His solution? No work proceeds on high-priority risks until response strategies are in place. It was controversial, but it worked.
In this practical guide, you'll learn:
The 5 response strategies for threats: Escalate, Avoid, Transfer, Mitigate, Accept—and when to use each
The 5 response strategies for opportunities: Because positive risks need management too
Real-world scenario: You're stuck in traffic on the way to an important meeting. Which response strategy fits each option available to you?
Priority-based decision making: Why Avoid and Mitigate work for high-priority risks, while Transfer and Accept work for low-priority ones
The article includes a practical exercise that transforms abstract concepts into muscle memory. Because knowing about risks and managing them are two completely different things.
Video Tutorial: Adding Risks in Primavera P6 Professional
Ever wondered how enterprise-level project portfolio management tools operationalize the risk response strategies we just covered? This tutorial demonstrates how to create and set up risks in Oracle Primavera P6 Professional.
You'll see:
Enabling the risk toolbar and understanding the red dice (threats) vs. white dice (opportunities) icons
Creating new risks and understanding auto-generated risk IDs
Setting risk types, exposure dates, and status
Assigning probability and impact values to automatically calculate risk scores
The difference between threats and opportunities in practice
Even if you don't use Primavera, watching this workflow can spark ideas for improving your own risk management process—whether you're using MS Project, JIRA, or even spreadsheets.
Part of a complete Primavera P6 risk management series. See the full playlist for advanced topics like risk parameters, scoring matrices, and response planning. This connects directly to tomorrow's live event.
Community Poll: Your Biggest Risk Management Challenge
We want to understand where project managers struggle most with risk management. Your input helps us create better content for the challenges you actually face.
What do you think is the most common trap when using Microsoft Project's Status field?
Live Event (10/15): From Chaos to Control – Managing Risks with Primavera P6
Risk management isn't just an intrinsic part of project management—it's a strategic skill that can make or break your entire portfolio. Without it, even well-planned projects get derailed by threats you saw coming but never addressed.
Join Satya Narayan Dash for a hands-on demonstration of professional risk management using Oracle Primavera P6 Professional, one of the most powerful project-portfolio management tools in the enterprise space.
What You'll Learn:
Understanding risk fundamentals: threats vs. opportunities
Setting up risk categories, owners, and identification parameters
Calculating risk scores using probability and impact matrices
MPUG host live events with leading experts on Wednesdays from 12:00pm - 1:00pm ET! MPUG members get access to live events where you get direct access to industry leaders, actionable insights, hands-on training, and opportunities to earn PDU's.
PM Best Practices: The Priority-Based Response Framework
Not all risks deserve the same level of attention. Here's a simple rule: use Avoid or Mitigate for high-priority threats, and Transfer or Accept for low-priority ones. For opportunities, use Exploit or Enhance for high-priority positive risks, and Share or Accept for low-priority ones. This framework ensures you're not spending $10,000 in mitigation effort on a $1,000 risk.
