Project Risk Management
Identifying, assessing, prioritizing, documenting, and managing risk and its impact.
Level 1 Demonstrates introductory understanding, directing people to the appropriate source for further information.
BEHAVIORS
- Follows mitigation or contingency plans to address or exploit risk.
- Monitors progress against plans, identifying and tracking barriers.
- Notifies project manager when risk is impending.
- Classifies the types of risks such as regulatory, financial, environmental, commercial, and safety.
- Documents results of risk analysis and risk response plan.
QUESTIONS
- Describe a time when you were tasked with tracking change requests.
Probing Questions
* What type of changes were you tracking?
* What was the change control process?
* How did you track change requests?
* How did you validate them against the project plan?
* How did you validate the changes were implemented?
- Provide an example of when you were responsible for documenting and identifying risks.
Probing Questions
* Describe the project.
* What types of risks were you looking for?
* What things do you look for when identifying if a risk is impending?
* What is your experience with following mitigation or contingency plans to address or exploit risks?
* How successful were the mitigation or contingency plans?
Level 2 Applies the competency in common situations that present limited difficulties, working with a moderate level of guidance.
BEHAVIORS
- Identifies risks within own project.
- Completes risk tracking tools such as risk register and risk breakdown structure.
- Evaluates risk consequences, probability, and impact.
- Develops solutions to address barriers in project and monitors results.
- Recommends corrective action regarding the risk for a small project or component of a large project.
- Communicates the risks associated with budget, schedules, and scope to stakeholders and project team members.
- Updates risk response plan when risk is realized, avoided, transferred or mitigated.
QUESTIONS
- Tell me about a time you were responsible for the change control processes and procedures on a complex project.
Probing Questions
* What was the scope of the project?
* How did you establish a change control process?
* How did you assess and monitor the impact of changes to project baselines?
* How did you address any variations to the project plan?
- Describe a time when you were responsible for developing a risk register for a project.
Probing Questions
* What were the circumstances surrounding the project?
* What were the risks were involved?
* How do you estimate risks in terms of consequences, probability and impact?
* How did you estimate risk contingency costs?
* How accurate were your forecasts?
Level 3 Applies the competency in the full range of typical situations, requiring guidance in only the most complex or new situations.
BEHAVIORS
- Qualifies and quantifies known risks.
- Develops risk response plan, including strategies for each defined risk.
- Uses advanced risk tools to analyze risk on highly complex initiatives.
- Identifies project barriers that can impact other projects.
- Identifies risk trends.
- Recognizes when a new or unknown risk occurs and establishes workarounds and mitigation plans.
QUESTIONS
- Provide an example of a risk response plan you developed for a project.
Probing Questions
* How did you qualify and quantify the known risks?
* What was required for developing the risk response plan?
* How did you track risks?
* What was your process for dealing with new or unknown risks?
* How successful was the risk management strategy?
- Describe a project where there was a high volume of changes, or where priorities changed quickly.
Probing Questions
* What were the types of changes and priority shifts?
* How did you perform the root cause analysis?
* What adjustments were required to address the changes and shifting priorities?
* Did the changes impact the project baselines?
* What was done to ensure the volume of changes did not occur in subsequent projects?
Level 4 Applies the competency in new or complex situations and advises others.
BEHAVIORS
- Identifies risks that cross-project boundaries, requiring resolution at the program level.
- Analyzes risk on initiatives across multiple projects and develop high-level response strategies.
- Mitigates risk on projects that have an organization-wide impact.
- Develops key risk indicators to continuously monitor project programs.
- Develops a plan to mitigate recurring risks.
- Reviews individual risk response strategies to develop new organizational standards or procedures.
QUESTIONS
- Describe a risk response strategy you implemented to address an organizational risk.
Probing Questions
* How did you track risk trends?
* What were the dimensions and nature of the risks?
* What plans did you develop to address these risks?
* What was the result?
Level 5 Develops new approaches and methods in the area. Is recognized as an expert within the organization.
BEHAVIORS
- Evaluates each portfolio component for risks at the organizational level that may impact the achievement of strategic objectives.
- Implement a comprehensive risk management information system within the organization.
- Classifies the types of risks that are embedded in a portfolio of projects, including regulatory, financial, environmental, commercial, safety, etc.
- Directs the decision-making process for addressing major barriers with a portfolio.
- Communicates organizational-wide trends and actions to improve risk-mitigating processes.
QUESTIONS
- Describe a situation where you were asked to address a major roadblock affecting multiple projects.
Probing Questions
* What were the circumstances surrounding this situation?
* What was the scope and impact of the roadblock?
* What steps did you take to investigate potential solutions?
* What was the solution you implemented?
* What was the outcome?
- Describe your strategy for evaluating risks across a portfolio.
Probing Questions
* How do you collect and analyze these risks?
* How did you classify the risks?
* How did you document organizational risks?
* What was your broad strategy for the portfolio? Were you able to minimize risk across the portfolio?