Clearing the Clutter: Removing Obsolete and Irrelevant Risks in Contracts, Relationships, and Projects

Jim Bergman

Risk management is essential in contracts, relationships, and projects. However, not all risks remain relevant over time. As circumstances change, certain risks become obsolete or irrelevant, yet they continue to clog discussions and decision-making processes. Knowing when to remove outdated risks from consideration is crucial for efficiency, clarity, and stronger risk management.

The Problem with Obsolete Risks

Holding onto outdated risks creates several challenges:

  • Wasted Resources: Time and effort are spent evaluating risks that no longer apply.
  • Distracted Focus: Decision-makers may overlook pressing concerns while addressing risks that have lost relevance.
  • Unnecessary Constraints: Contracts and agreements filled with obsolete risk clauses can make negotiations rigid and ineffective.

Why and When to Remove Irrelevant Risks

1. Changed Circumstances

Some risks become irrelevant as external conditions change. For example:

  • A contract may include clauses addressing supply chain disruptions from vendors that are no longer part of the agreement.
  • A relationship may have boundaries based on past insecurities that have since been resolved.
  • A project risk tied to outdated technology may no longer be relevant after a system upgrade.

2. Advancements in Risk Mitigation

When effective mitigation strategies have eliminated or significantly reduced a risk, continued focus on that risk is unnecessary. For example:

  • Legal compliance risks may diminish as regulations change or as a company updates its processes.
  • Communication risks in relationships may disappear when healthy habits become the norm.
  • Project risks related to outdated methodologies may be irrelevant after adopting agile workflows.

3. Lessons Learned & Evolved Understanding

Over time, organizations and individuals gain insights that allow them to reassess which risks are truly significant. Past experiences help identify false alarms, allowing decision-makers to refine their priorities.

How to Effectively Remove Obsolete Risks

  • Conduct Periodic Reviews: Businesses, teams, and individuals should regularly reassess risk registers, agreements, and expectations.
  • Eliminate Outdated Contractual Provisions: Contracts should be updated to reflect current realities. Risk clauses that no longer serve a purpose can be revised or removed.
  • Adjust Project Risk Frameworks: Project managers should refine risk assessments to reflect current technologies, industry trends, and market conditions.
  • Recognize Relationship Growth: In personal and professional relationships, outdated concerns should be acknowledged and phased out instead of carried forward unnecessarily.

The Benefit of Risk Removal

Clearing away obsolete and irrelevant risks allows individuals, businesses, and teams to:

  • Make better decisions with greater focus on actual threats.
  • Improve efficiency by avoiding unnecessary risk mitigation efforts.
  • Strengthen contracts and agreements by ensuring they reflect relevant concerns.
  • Create healthier relationships by removing outdated assumptions and fears.

By actively identifying and removing irrelevant risks, we can streamline operations, improve collaboration, and build stronger agreements and relationships. Not all risks deserve long-term attention—some are meant to be left behind.

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Published by Jim Bergman

Jim Bergman is a commercial contract professional with global experience spanning the USA, Latin America, UK, Europe, China, South Korea, Japan, India, SE Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Australia. He has worked on a wide range of direct and indirect spend categories in numerous sectors, developing a deep knowledge of services, goods and technology procurement and sales. Across this wide array of commodity and services experience, Jim has found the keys to success in maximizing value for money through customer-supplier relationships founded on innovative category management and strategic sourcing practices, key performance metrics and measures, as well as Total Cost of Ownership principles and collaborative contracting tenets. He has shared his knowledge through advisory engagements, as well as in developing and delivering training programs both on-line and in classrooms, in both open-enrollment and internal environments. Jim has assisted his clients through all phases and steps of contracting, negotiation, strategic sourcing and bidding processes, demonstrating value generation in excess of $250 million. His audiences and clients have included over 7,000 attorneys and commercial professionals students from over 1,000 corporations and public-sector entities.

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