How can you measure the success of a risk management plan as a project leader?

1 Define success criteria

Before you can measure the success of your risk management plan, you need to define what success means for your project and your risk management process. Success criteria are the specific, measurable, and achievable outcomes that you want to achieve with your risk management plan. These should be aligned with your project scope, schedule, budget, quality, and stakeholder expectations. For instance, some success criteria for your risk management plan could be reducing the probability and impact of negative risks by 50%, increasing the probability and impact of positive risks by 30%, maintaining a positive risk attitude among the project team and stakeholders, and resolving 90% of the identified risks within the agreed time frame and budget.

2 Establish key performance indicators

Once you have defined your success criteria, you need to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you measure and track your progress and performance against them. These KPIs should be quantifiable, observable metrics that are relevant, realistic, and reliable. For instance, you may want to track the number and percentage of risks identified, analyzed, prioritized, and responded to. Additionally, you may want to measure the number and percentage of risks closed, mitigated, transferred, avoided, or exploited. Furthermore, it is important to track the number and percentage of risks that occurred and their deviation from the expected probability and impact. Moreover, you may want to measure the number and percentage of risks that triggered contingency plans or escalation procedures as well as the number and percentage of change requests or issues related to risks.

3 Use appropriate tools and techniques

To collect, analyze, and report your KPIs, you need to use appropriate tools and techniques that suit your project context, complexity, and stakeholder needs. A risk register is a document that records the details of each risk, while a risk matrix is a visual tool that plots the risks on a grid based on their probability and impact. Additionally, a risk breakdown structure hierarchically categorizes the risks into different levels and groups. Furthermore, a risk dashboard is a graphical tool that displays the summary and trends of your KPIs. Lastly, a risk report communicates the results and recommendations of your risk management plan to stakeholders.

4 Review and improve your risk management plan

Reviewing and improving your risk management plan regularly and systematically is essential for making sure it is up to date, accurate, and effective. To evaluate and enhance your plan, you can employ various methods, such as risk audits to examine and verify its quality and effectiveness, risk reviews to assess and update its status and performance, or risk lessons learned to capture and document the best practices and improvement opportunities. By following these steps, you can measure the success of your risk management plan as a project leader and demonstrate how it contributes to your project success.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?