Primary Post: What guidelines do you use - or you would advise be used - to ensure that the risk response strategy selected is effective for managing that risk? What insights would you offer to know if the response is both necessary and sufficient?

Secondary Post: - How can the advice in the primary post be integrated into the risk management plan? What other planning components can integrate to ensure the effectiveness of the risk response plan?

Example 1:

As a project manager, I would first gather all known relative risks associated with the project and rely on in put from my project team to assist in classifying them.

One approach, or methodology to this is to ensure that the risk response strategy is effective is to examine each risk and classify it by the following three factors: category of risk, severity or impact on the successful completion of a project milestone, and probability or likelihood (Royer 31-24). In taking this approach, one minimizes risk by assessing the most important ones and creating a plan to mitigate while using our time effectively.

We cannot simply focus our attention to every single risk because we simply will not have enough time or energy to be able to spend on that. With Royer's suggestive approach, it's simple, yet effective.

Additionally, the insights that I would offer to know if the response is both necessary and sufficient is to rely on your subject matter experts from your project team and have a plan in place in the event a known associated project risk that had a high probability and high impact classification became a risk.

As a project manager, you do not have to think you are acting alone in this scenario. I would always involve my project team in gathering this type of mitigation response by various techniques such as surveying, one on one meetings, or even scheduling a separate side meeting on Project Risk and discuss further into detail.

If both the severity and probability factors are high, then a detailed contingency plan within budget should be considered (Royer 36). In addition, a project manager has contingency funds and management reserve funds that are usually available to the project manager if the situation arises, which is just another response tool a project manager has to mitigate risk and deal with it effectively.

Reference:

Royer, Paul S. "Risk Management: The Undiscovered Dimension Of Project Management". PM Network (2000): 31-34. Print.