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Product and Project Risk Assessment and Mitigation Tables

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Quick Summary
Risk Assessment tables used during the early project selection process for documenting product risks, as well as several more detailed risk assessment categories for projects moving into full-blown planning. This expanded version includes contributions from Global Brain Inc.'s Quality Rapid Product Development methodology. There are formats and guidelines for assessing the true risks in areas such as market competition, technical innovations, and the nuts-and-bolts, boring-but-potentially-painful things like resource shortages and vendor/partner delivery delays.


What this is

This file contains an overview explanation of risk management, and several examples of Risk Assessment Tables to be used during the early project selection process and during detailed investigation and planning work. The goal is to ensure that technical and non-technical risks are factored into decisions about launching a project and into full project planning to make sure the risks will be handled.

During the Concept phase, the purpose is a quick high-level project risk assessment, with a focus on risks with the product or service being developed and any already-seen risks. During the Initiation phase, further risk identification is done, plus all the risks are analyzed—and sometimes assigned a score—for factors such as potential project impact, likelihood of occurrence, and difficulty of detection. Judgments are made on the overall riskiness of the project; mitigation plans are created to help the team avoid the risk, such as doing prototyping and early feasibility studies. Typically, backup plans are also made, to be invoked by the team for responding to the risk if it does occur.


Why it's useful

During the early days of the project, sometimes referred to as the Concept phase, a project idea should be quickly evaluated for business benefit, potential scope, and risk, so that the company can decide whether it's worth approving a project to go forward with more investigation. Making a first cut at risk assessment during the early Concept phase supplies critical information for this Go/No Go decision. It also flags the project team on areas where they will need to do a more involved risk assessment with prevention and contingency planning during the Initiation phase if the project gets a "go."

During that next phase, the project idea is investigated, implementation alternatives defined, and solutions chosen and planned in more detail. Risk assessment must occur in more detail as the potential implementations are designed and planned. All those risks must then be evaluated in more detail: to understand their potential impact on project costs, schedule, and scope; to judge the viability of the project or particular solutions; and to ensure adequate time and money are included in the project plan for avoiding risks and handling them if they do occur.

Several types of risk can be considered during the risk assessments.

How to use it

During the Concept phase, initial high-level risk assessment:

During the Initiation Phase (or Investigation/Planning Phase): Select from Templates 2, 3, and 4 to do an appropriate level of risk analysis for your project.


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