Solving for Project Risk Management: Understanding the Critical Role of Uncertainty in Project Management

CHAPTER 3

Beyond the Matrix

The Cost and Schedule Risk Imperative

The German composer Carl Orff composed the classical music piece O Fortuna in the 1930s. It has appeared in a variety of film and television soundtracks, and in 2009, it was listed as the “most widely heard classical piece” in the United Kingdom.¹ The lyrics are from a medieval poem about the whims of chance. It compares luck to the phases of the moon, waxing and waning during its orbit around the Earth. The title is a reference to Fortuna, who is the Roman goddess of luck and is the origin of the word fortune. The operations of Fortuna are symbolized by a wheel, which she spins at random. This causes losses for some and gains for others, like a cosmic roulette wheel. As a result ...