MGTS7527 Chap.8 Risk Statements, Responses and the Risk Register
Risk Statements, Responses and the Risk Register
Four words that are not interchangeable
The risk part of Week 4 starts by separating a risk, an uncertain event that could affect objectives, from an issue that has already happened, an assumption that is not yet confirmed and a constraint that limits options.
If a so-called risk has occurred, treat it as an issue and then look at the new risks it brings.
Writing risks that someone can manage
The seminar's cycle runs from planning the approach through identification, analysis, response planning and implementation to monitoring, and then repeats.
A useful risk statement makes the cause, the uncertain event and the impact on objectives explicit, and a risk breakdown structure widens identification across technical, schedule, commercial, people, external and governance sources.
Responses and the register
Threat responses are avoidance, transfer, mitigation and acceptance, and response planning means both choosing a strategy and planning how to carry it out.
This chapter rates five risks for an original riverside festival on a likelihood and impact grid, builds the register with owners and responses, and shows how to keep it alive with triggers, residual risk and regular review.
What examiners look for in a register
A register earns marks when each row shows the logic from risk to assessment to response to ownership.
The Team Project Plan rubric rewards a broad range of the most significant risks with all details for each, and a justified explanation of how the two most significant could affect scope, schedule, cost or quality.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Risk, issue, assumption and constraint
- 02
The continuous risk cycle
- 03
Cause, uncertain event and impact
- 04
Risk breakdown structure categories
- 05
Avoid, transfer, mitigate and accept
- 06
Rating likelihood and impact
- 07
What a risk register records
- 08
Reviewing triggers and residual risk
Worked example · free
Rate five festival risks on the likelihood and impact grid
- 1Flooding: 2 times 3 = 6, HIGH.
- 1Headline act: 1 times 3 = 3, MEDIUM.
- 1Guard shortfall: 2 times 3 = 6, HIGH.
- 1Scanner failure: 2 times 2 = 4, MEDIUM; late T-shirts: 2 times 1 = 2, LOW.
- 1Flooding and the guard shortfall are the two HIGH risks, so they receive responses and owners first.
Key terms
- Risk
- Something uncertain, an event or a condition, that might help or harm a project objective.
- Issue
- A problem that has already happened and now needs action.
- Risk Register
- A record of identified risks, their assessment, ownership and planned management.
- Risk Breakdown Structure
- A checklist of risk categories that widens the search for where uncertainty may come from.
- Residual Risk
- The risk that remains after responses have been applied.
Risk Statements, Responses and the Risk Register FAQ
How do I write a good risk statement?
Name the cause, the uncertain event and the impact on objectives in one sentence: because something is true, something may happen, which could affect a named objective. A label such as weather risk gives the owner nothing to monitor.
What is the difference between mitigating and transferring a risk?
Mitigation reduces the likelihood or the consequences of the risk. Transfer moves the risk elsewhere, for example to a supplier through a contract or to an insurer, while some obligations, such as legal ones, may stay with the project.
How often should a risk register be updated?
Throughout delivery, because new risks appear, ratings change, responses succeed or fail and some risks become issues. A register completed once at the start and filed away is not risk management, however long it is.
What is a risk breakdown structure used for?
It is a checklist of categories that pushes the team to look across several sources of uncertainty, such as technical, schedule, commercial, people, external and governance risks. It reduces blind spots during identification, but the team still has to discuss, consult stakeholders and gather evidence.
Assessment move
Pick a real event you have organised, write four risks in cause, event and impact form, rate them with a rule you state first, and assign a response and owner to the top two. Finish by naming one trigger the owner would watch for each.
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