PMP · Question #947
A project manager is leading a team that is new to agile. During the kickoff meeting, one team member asks how risks will be managed using agile approaches. How should the project manager respond?
The correct answer is A. Risk management is a collaborative effort and will be managed during each iteration. In agile methodologies, risk management is a collaborative effort involving the entire team and is continuously addressed throughout each iteration.
Question
A project manager is leading a team that is new to agile. During the kickoff meeting, one team member asks how risks will be managed using agile approaches. How should the project manager respond?
Options
- ARisk management is a collaborative effort and will be managed during each iteration.
- BRisks are managed by the project manager and forecasted at the beginning of each project.
- CRisks will be managed during a retrospective session with all of the team members.
- DRisks are managed by the team and they will be analyzed during risk management kickoff.
How the community answered
(42 responses)- A88% (37)
- B2% (1)
- C7% (3)
- D2% (1)
Why each option
In agile methodologies, risk management is a collaborative effort involving the entire team and is continuously addressed throughout each iteration.
Agile methodologies emphasize continuous, collaborative risk management where the entire team actively identifies, analyzes, plans responses for, and monitors risks as an ongoing activity throughout each iteration or sprint. This integrated approach allows for timely adaptation to emerging risks and fosters a shared responsibility for project success.
Managing risks solely by a project manager and forecasting them only at the beginning of the project is characteristic of traditional, predictive methodologies, not agile.
While risks may be discussed and lessons learned in retrospective sessions, these sessions are primarily for process improvement and are not the sole or continuous mechanism for proactive risk management throughout an iteration.
Although agile teams manage risks, confining analysis only to a 'risk management kickoff' contradicts the agile principle of continuous and iterative risk handling across the project lifecycle.
Concept tested: Agile risk management principles
Topics
Community Discussion
8
Yusuf A.Oct 25, 2025A is correct here. One of the senior PMs at my company always stresses that agile folds risk management into the daily work rather than treating it as a separate phase. So during each iteration, the whole team collaborates to identify and address risks through ceremonies like daily standups, backlog refinement, and reviews. C is tempting because retrospectives do surface risks, but waiting until the end of the iteration to manage them would be too late.
Olusegun A.Nov 3, 2025A is correct. In agile, risk management is continuous and collaborative, woven into iteration planning, daily standups, and reviews rather than dumped into a single upfront session.
Fatima Z.Nov 4, 2025Co-sign A, and remember the big three risk checkpoints with RSD: Reviews, Standups, and Daily planning, because the exam loves to test whether risks get touched at every one of those instead of just at iteration kickoff.
Mateus R.Nov 18, 2025Think of it like tending a garden instead of building a brick wall. With a wall you try to predict every storm before you lay the first brick, but with a garden you walk the rows every single day to pull weeds and check for bugs as they appear. In agile terms, that daily and iteration-level tending is exactly how risk management works: it is a collaborative, ongoing effort baked into every iteration. Option C is the tempting trap because risks certainly come up in retrospectives, but waiting until the end of an iteration to address them is way too late. You land on A because risk
Wei W.Nov 25, 2025A is the right call here because agile risk management is continuous and owned by the whole team, not a one-time handoff to the PM. I am curious though, does anyone know if the exam expects you to distinguish between risks raised informally during the iteration versus those formally captured at iteration planning?
Yusuf A.Nov 26, 2025One of the seniors at my shop told me the exam treats both the same way since agile risks can surface anytime, but he said to watch for answer choices that try to push risks into a single ceremony like planning, because that trips up people coming from waterfall.
Fatima Z.Oct 25, 2025A is correct. Agile risks ride the iteration cycle: think AIR, Agile Iteration Risks.
Yusuf A.Oct 26, 2025Thanks Fatima, that AIR mnemonic is gold - my mentor actually drew it out for me on a whiteboard last month but I keep forgetting what the R maps to, is it "Resolved" or "Retrospective"?