Project Risk Management

Every project has risks that threaten to cause project failure. Project risk management involves firstly identifying the risks that impact your project. These could be:

• a reliance on new and untried technology
• project funds contingent upon future profits
• inexperienced project team members
• late arrival of specialised equipment

You don’t know everything, so it’s best to get as many people involved in the risk identification process as possible. Next, analyse the risks. Risk analysis can take many forms, however, they usually revolve around providing answers to three questions:

1. What is the probability of the risk event occurring?

2. What would be the impact on the project if the risk event were to occur?

3. What steps can be taken to minimize the impact of the risk event if it did happen?

Answering the third question provides your risk mitigation strategy for each risk. You then need to decide for each risk who will implement the strategy and by when.

Our eBook, A Guide to Project Management, provides a practical introduction to managing project risks.

Don’t forget to review risks continuously throughout your project. Previously identified risks may disappear and new ones emerge. Don’t be caught off guard! We recommend you maintain a Risk Register to keep your project team updated on current risk status.

Our project management software, Project Master, contains an automated Risk Register that will help you identify, analyze, rank, mitigate, update and communicate project risks to your project team.
 

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