What's Your Happy Fun Ball?

Remember this little sketch from SNL?

Where does one strike a balance of communicating potential risks to alert stakeholders and going overboard to the point of being labeled Chicken Little?  Project risk management is challenging.  We try to educate people about what can go wrong, and sometimes the messenger gets shot.

I've found the following criteria (and some relevant links) for analyzing and communicating risks and issues:

• Does/should management care about it?
• Does management need to take action on it?
• Can/will it cause irreparable harm to the company or its customers if not mitigated or avoided?
• Will I get fired if management gets blindsided by this later?
• Is there a high probability of the risk event occurring?
• Is the risk just too great to pursue?
• Do I need to cover my backside by documenting it (reality check)?

So, what is your happy fun ball?  How are you communicating it?