Do you practice project risk management in your projects? How do you do it? Let me share how I, CEO and Founder of RefineM, NK Shrivastava perform risk management on my projects.

I follow PMI’s six-step process of Risk Management that includes:

1. Plan risk management

2. Identify risks

3. Perform qualitative analysis

4. Perform quantitative analysis

5. Develop risk responses

6. Monitor and control risks

I perform the first 5 steps during the planning stage, working with all stakeholders. I use several tools such as Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS) to identify the risks. Once the risks have been identified I rank/prioritize them using probability-impact matrix. The risks that rise above the threshold (determined during the 1st step) are put to quantitative analysis. I use EMV (Expected Monetary Value) technique to perform quantitative analysis. I use this information to develop contingency reserve for the risks. After this I work with the stakeholders to develop risk responses, some responses may even end up eliminating some of the risks. The risk reserve is adjusted after the response planning has been completed. To learn more about developing the risk contingency reserve, download our free presentation on Developing and Using Risk Contingency Reserve from our Knowledge Base.

I perform the 6th step during the execution of the project. Normally I perform this step every month, reviewing the risk register, identifying new risks and making changes as necessary.

I also integrate the contingency risk reserve with project schedule and cost so the impact is seen on those two dimensions of the project. That works very well to communicate risk impact to the sponsors and senior managers in the company.

This process has really worked very well for me. I teach this process to my customers and they also like it.

How do you practice risk management? Is it similar or different than the way I do it? Let me know in the comments.

Developing a risk register is part of the basic set of project management processes in Essential Gear for Project Managers, a toolkit with the eight essential project management processes you need to deliver projects on time, on budget, and exceeding expectations. Delivered to you via intuitive templates and a handbook describing best practices and pitfalls.