Program Management: Identifying and Managing Risk

Question

How do you manage risk for your projects? Please provide an example where you successfully identified and managed a risk.

Background

Risk management is very important for TPMs. Staying on top of risks and making sure they are actively managed is a critical part of the job, and it is also where TPMs can add significant value.

Senior-level positions will require demonstration of successful risk management, so be ready with a strong framework and excellent examples. This question aims to prepare you for that.

Solution approach

We want to demonstrate that we are thorough and solution-oriented when it comes to risk management. We will use the following approach to answer this question.

• Start by providing a framework for identifying and managing risk. This will include both strategic and tactical elements.

• Show how we used this framework in a large-scale project to manage risk.

Sample answer

I’ll start by discussing how I identify risks in a project and give some examples of project risks. Then I’ll talk about how I prioritize, manage, and communicate these risks. Finally, I’ll discuss how I effectively managed risk for a large project.

Risk identification

Risks can be found at any stage in the project. Ideally, we’d like to find them early on. When I start projects, I begin by building out a project plan and identifying the scope, resources, timelines, and stakeholders. A major part of this plan is calling out risks. A risk is pretty much anything that can derail the project:

• Legal/compliance issues
• Dependency on another team or system
• Technical infeasibility
• Lack of customer adoption

I’ll always start with my own understanding and make sure to solicit feedback from key stakeholders (engineering, product, legal, policy, or sales) so that everyone provides input and is aware of the risks.

I keep a risk inventory (usually a spreadsheet) that tracks the risk. As risks are identified throughout the project, they are added to this inventory. How do we ensure risks are properly identified throughout the project? We need to have a thorough tracking process to collect work status of all the individuals or workstreams that are involved in the project. This can be done through a project management tool or through in-person meetings, depending on the size and culture of the team.

Here is an example of what a risk inventory could look like once all the relevant pieces are captured: