It’s often said, you have to take risks to be successful. Who would disagree with that?  Starting a business is risky.  Investing in the stock market is risky. Going to college is risky.  Getting married is risky.  Few would argue that these risky endeavors shouldn’t be pursued in life.  These are all rewarding endeavors when we’re successful at them.

Sometimes things we call risks, though, are not risks at all: they are errors in judgment, manipulation, or foolishness.   Jumping from an airplane without a parachute is not a risk: it’s foolish.  Driving a vehicle while under the influence is not a risk: it’s an error in judgment.  In business, persuading people to support an ill-conceived mission is not taking a risk; it’s manipulation.

Manipulation is sometimes disguised as risk in our software projects.  You may have witnessed it.  The project sponsors set the software team on an impossible mission to deliver a set of requirements on a date that is just not possible to hit given the amount of work and the resourcing levels. One argument you may hear from the project sponsors is that we need to take risks to stay competitive.  Few would disagree with that, but if the date is truly impossible, it’s not a risk: it’s manipulation to persuade people to support an ill-conceived decision.   The true risk is that by proceeding with the effort it, at a minimum, impairs profitability and at worst imperils the survival of the company. 

It’s important to classify risks properly.  True risks have a chance at a positve outcome and/or a chance at being overcome — however small the chance.  If you are careful about what you risk for, you just might get it.  Or to put it another way, be careful what you risk for, you just might get it!  You decide.