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Risk Identification

19 January, 2016 - 17:35

A more disciplined process involves using checklists of potential risks and evaluating the likelihood that those events might happen on the project. Some companies and industries develop risk checklists based on experience from past projects. These checklists can be helpful to the project manager and project team in identifying both specific risks on the checklist and expanding the thinking of the team. The past experience of the project team, project experience within the company, and experts in the industry can be valuable resources for identifying potential risk on a project.

Identifying the sources of risk by category is another method for exploring potential risk on a project. Some examples of categories for potential risks include the following:

  • Technical
  • Cost
  • Schedule
  • Client
  • Contractual
  • Weather
  • Financial
  • Political
  • Environmental
  • People

You can use the same framework as the work breakdown structure (WBS) for developing a risk breakdown structure (RBS). A risk breakdown structure organizes the risks that have been identified into categories using a table with increasing levels of detail to the right. The people category can be subdivided into different types of risks associated with the people. Examples of people risks include the risk of not finding people with the skills needed to execute the project or the sudden unavailability of key people on the project.

Example: Risks in John’s Move

In John’s move, John makes a list of things that might go wrong with his project and uses his work breakdown structure as a guide. A partial list for the planning portion of the RBS is shown in Figure 16.2 Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS)  .

Source: http://pm4id.org/11/2/ media/image10.png
Figure 16.2 Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS)  

The result is a clearer understanding of where risks are most concentrated. This approach helps the project team identify known risks, but can be restrictive and less creative in identifying unknown risks and risks not easily found inside the WBS.