Managing Risk

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Managing Risk

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Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Posted Monday, April 06, 2009 10:07 PM

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Comments posted to this topic are about the item Managing Risk

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Post #691651

Andy Warren

Posted Tuesday, April 07, 2009 4:55 AM

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I agree with reassessing things periodically, though I wouldn't say it should always be with an eye on reducing risk. Sometimes it's appropriate to take risks, though always in a measured with and with an understanding of the consequences. Of the things I see in our profession (IT) is that we're often so risk averse that the pace of change slows to a crawl, often with a very negative impact on the business.

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Post #691842

jcrawf02

Posted Tuesday, April 07, 2009 6:37 AM

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Good point Andy, I think when you're talking about Risk Assessment and/or Reducing Risk, you might have to carefully define what you're assessing. The point being that you want to reduce unnecessary (or involuntary) risk, but calculated risk isn't really a Risk in the 'capitalized' sense, it's a business investment. That investment may or may not pay out, but it's identified and set aside as acceptable due to the possible return. That differs from the true Risk situation, where you have a hole in your processes or systems that allows the possibility of negative impacts to occur with no potential upside.

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"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."

Post #691910

Tobar

Posted Tuesday, April 07, 2009 7:06 AM

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Great insight jcrawf02

And now for something completely different ...
What version of Risk did you use in the picture? Must be one of those new-fangled ones. Showing my age I will state that mine has the little triangular shapes soldiers and the heat-sinkish towers for squads (10 soldiers)

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Post #691953

Mitch Stein

Posted Tuesday, April 07, 2009 7:48 AM

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For me, it's not always about risk with these decisions. We use Stored Procedures almost exclusively and I like the fact that we have a pretty thorough documentation of our company's business logic all in one place. The decision to go Stored Procedures, for me, is #1 Reusability, #2 Documentation and consolidation, and Security falls to #3

Post #692010

jcrawf02

Posted Tuesday, April 07, 2009 7:57 AM

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Tobar (4/7/2009)

Thanks

That version of Risk you're referring to is the one I remember from childhood, my wife and I recently bought the version that looks like Steve's photo. We tried to play it and gave up because the setup took so dang long. Patience is a virtue, but it really cuts into your fun sometimes . . .

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Post #692022

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Posted Tuesday, April 07, 2009 9:09 AM

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Not sure which version of risk that was. It looked liked the best picture :)

We have a new version here with metal horses, kind of a pain compared to the original from my childhood. My brother still plays with that version and friends.

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Post #692149

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Posted Tuesday, April 07, 2009 9:11 AM

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I think you're always trying to reduce risk. Even if you want to tackle a new venture, or make a new risk in an area, you want to reduce the amount of risk in that venture from where it is. A business shouldn't be regularly betting itself without making an assessment of the risk and trying to reduce that.

It might be riskier than anything in the current environment, and you might be increasing the risk overall, but you're still trying to minimize the chance of failure.

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Post #692151

Bob Abernethy

Posted Tuesday, April 07, 2009 11:44 AM

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Sounds to me like the makers of Risk (the game) were taking a risk when they changed they look and feel of Risk. And that change has led to some people not wanting to play Risk anymore. On the other hand, I am sure they felt that not changing the game might be risky too if it started looking stodgy and 'old' and not attracting new players.

So changing or not changing... whether the game of Risk, our careers, or the way we do our jobs, is a risk - either way.

And it's not enough to try to stick with the herd and use (so-called) tried and true "Best Practices". Those can be very useful to be sure, but look what happened to Wall Street, where so many of their vaunted "Best Practices" turned out to actually be the very "Worst Practices" imaginable.

Bottom line: Life is risky, and no one ever said success was easy. It takes lot of hard work, attention to detail, awareness of the bigger picture, trying to factor it all together, and as Steve said, every decision amounts to taking a certain amount of risk- sometimes a small amount, sometimes bigger. And when taking these unavoidable risks, sometimes we win, but sometimes we lose.

But wouldn't a life without risk be exceedingly boring? Smile

Post #692370

jay-h

Posted Tuesday, April 07, 2009 12:56 PM

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As I remember Risk as a child (in the 60s) it had little cubes and jelly bean shaped pieces

And I agree with the comments above, risk is not to be avoided, only foolish or ill defined risk. As a society we are becoming incredibly risk averse and that has a debilitating effect.

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Post #692428

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