When external events can potentially affect the progress of your project, it is important to analyze the risk. Every project carries a certain level of risk; the key is to keep it from negatively affecting your project. In order to do this, you must assess both the probability that the event will occur and the amount of impact that it could potentially have if it does occur. Whether the risk of a project is high or low, the project manager should have a plan of action in place to effectively avoid a potentially negative situation and a way of dealing with the situation if it becomes unavoidable.