Project Risk and Risk Planning

Name: Project Risk and Risk Planning
Author: Nick Ankrom

Learn how to identify positive and negative project risks.

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 6 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

(soft music) Let's begin by defining risk management. This is a skill developed by project managers that allows them to identify risks before they occur. Analyze the impact on the project when they are triggered, and develop a response plan to handle each risk. In these lessons, you'll learn what project risk is, and how risks can impact your projects, either negatively or positively. We'll also cover how to identify stakeholders, plan for risk management, and why it's important to be able to account for potential risks in your project plan. One thing to understand is regardless of how carefully you plan your project, you'll likely encounter some degree of risk throughout the project life cycle. Having a plan to manage risk can reduce the impact to the overall project. The Project Management Institute, PMI, reports that between 40 and 50% of projects are delivered over budget, and between 40 and 60% of projects exceed the plan schedule. One of the main reasons that projects exceed the planned budget or schedule is because of acquired risk due to poor risk management. If you were to ask any company or project manager how important managing project risk is, they would likely respond that managing risk is extremely important. If you ask them how many of them have project risk plans in place, you would hear a wide range of responses, from having comprehensive plans, to dealing with them specifically based on some basic guidelines. To some organizations not having any risk management procedures. If you were to follow the first two questions with, how many of you follow your established project risk plans? You would likely not see any of them raise their hands. While most project managers agree that managing project risk is important, they don't actively practice a process, because they aren't sure how to do it effectively. They may try to implement pieces of a process, and when they don't realize the value they expected, they quickly abandon it. What they don't understand is that managing project risk can't be done piecemeal, and requires a comprehensive process from start to finish. The basic outline for a project risk plan consists of four main parts, which are risk identification, risk assessment, risk response development, and risk response monitoring and management. As you move through this course, you'll learn more about each of these necessary parts of an effective project risk plan.

Intermediate Provider : Nick Ankrom 6 Lessons · 16m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

These lessons will help you gain the skills needed to identify risk and how risk can impact a project negatively and positively. You’ll also learn how to prepare a plan for minimizing or managing negative risks, and how to assess the probability of risks to decide how to manage them. These lessons will show examples of positive and negative risks, and prompt you to consider solutions for overcoming challenges and you’ll learn what a project stakeholder is, along with how to identify them.

What You'll Learn

Identify project risks and recognize how risk can impact a project both negatively and positively
Develop a plan to manage and minimize negative project risks
Analyze positive and negative risks and assess the probability of risks to decide how to manage them
Apply tools for success in managing project risk
Identify project stakeholders and explain what a project stakeholder is
Explain the importance of risk management planning in project management

Key Takeaways

Risk can affect a project both negatively and positively, and identifying it is a core part of project management.
Preparing a risk management plan helps minimize or manage negative risks.
Assessing the probability of risks helps determine how to manage them.
Identifying stakeholders is part of understanding and managing project risk.
Applying the right tools supports success in managing project risk.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn how risks can affect projects, how to develop a plan to manage project risks, how to analyze positive and negative risks, and how to apply tools for success in managing risk.

Does this course cover both negative and positive risks?

Yes. The course shows examples of positive and negative risks and prompts you to consider solutions for overcoming challenges, including a lesson on Negative and Positive Risk.

Does this course address project stakeholders?

Yes. You will learn what a project stakeholder is and how to identify them, covered in the lesson Identifying Stakeholders.

How do I learn to decide how to manage a given risk?

The course teaches how to assess the probability of risks to decide how to manage them, and covers analyzing positive and negative risks.

What lessons are included in this course?

Lessons include Risk and Project Management, Defining Project Risk, Negative and Positive Risk, Identifying Stakeholders, The Importance of Risk Management Planning, and a Test Your Knowledge assessment.

Professional Certifications and Continuing Education Units (CEUs)

Project Management Institute (PMI®)

Professional Development Units (PDUs): 0.5

Certification Program Categories:

Ways of WorkingPower SkillsBusiness Acumen

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