Some project risk practitioners argue that Project Risk Matrices cannot be trusted to produce consistent and correct risk ratings and rankings, and their application has to be minimised or even avoided.
However, often with the unique nature of projects, reliable risk rating and ranking are not possible regardless of applied methods and techniques.
Proposed alternatives may be able to address some issues associated with Risk Matrices, but not all of them and have other issues that Risk Matrices don’t have!
Arguing that the Risk Matrix technique is wrong would be similar to saying that a hammer is not a good tool because it may be inappropriately used instead of a screwdriver.
Risk Matrix is just one of the tools in a project management toolbox. There are situations when it is the most appropriate tool to use, situations when another risk management tool is preferable and situations when a Risk Matrix with another risk tool gives the best result.
It is essential to learn the weak points of this risk evaluation method, as some issues could be mitigated when applied smartly.
Alex Lyaschenko
PMO | Portfolio Planning & Delivery | PMP | P3O Practitioner | AgilePM Practitioner | Six Sigma
