Modern Risk Management for Systems Engineering

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the value of an effective risk management process in systems engineering. No engineering project, organization, or entity can be successful without a robust risk avoidance plan in place.

Traditionally, it has been taught that risk management and mitigation serve as a plan, process, or series of steps to avoid negative consequences. In complex organizations or projects, risk management is a large function of the system. Therefore, it is of high importance that the organization to uses this function most effectively and efficiently.

To be most effective, risk management should be considered as something beyond the avoidance of loss or negative consequences. The author of this paper makes the following recommendation: systems engineers should consider risk management as a means to create value and minimize waste. This is an inherently Lean approach, and the approach should be used to balance opportunities and failure. The author of this paper will show this principle to be of high value through case studies of well-known past programs. The document will examine the successes and failures of each and how effectively risk management was applied. Furthermore, it will demonstrate how the risk management team was or was not able to balance opportunity and failure, consequently creating either value or waste.