Clara is a Scrum Master on a project that involves offshore oil drilling. The Product Owner on her project has identified that there is a probability of getting new orders in the future, which might depend on the performance of the project. How would this risk be labelled?
SBOK defines risk as an uncertain event or set of events that can affect project objectives. Importantly, risk is not necessarily negative. Risks with potentially favorable consequences are classified as opportunities, whereas risks capable of producing adverse outcomes are called threats. SCRUMstudy explicitly distinguishes these two categories.
In this scenario, additional orders have not yet materialized, so they remain uncertain. However, if they occur, they would generate a positive business consequence attributable to successful project performance. That makes the event a positive risk---an opportunity.
An issue differs from a risk because an issue has already occurred and therefore is no longer uncertain. ''Weakness'' may be used in analytical techniques such as SWOT Analysis but is not the correct risk classification in this scenario. A threat would apply if the uncertain event could negatively affect objectives.
Because future orders represent uncertainty with a beneficial potential impact, the correct classification is Opportunity.
Study Guide reference: Risk -> Definition of Risk -> Opportunities and Threats; Risk Identification and Assessment.
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