I agree that it's always a good idea to learn new skills, apply them, and add more depth to your current skill set, no matter what state the economy is in. But, one important component to the risk of any project is the inability of IT managers and developers to effectively communicate with the business leaders and end users that they are supporting.

I've seen a good deal of bad programming and bad business analysis on software projects -often the final product doesn't support the needs of the business community, and a lot of work is required down stream to clean up the mess. Bugs can be fixed and efficiencies can be found when the problems are a matter of system performance. Adding to your skill set can cut down on these problems and allow you to code more efficiently and save many hours of development effort.

However, I feel that a lack of communication skills and direction for IT projects is even worse. If we don't have a true sense of what the business community wants to accomplish while using our software, we could write the most beautiful and efficient code in the world, and it will still be of absolutely no value.