It has been a while back that we looked into the series how to present a risk profile to an audience.

The last time we discussed and looked at the standard way of presenting by the two axes likelihood and consequence. This time its about the “Heat Map“, an approach we have learned from Liam Wallace at the IQPC Project Risk Management Conference.

He uses the following picture to express a risk profile.

Its especially capable to show the level of risk in specific areas (eg. Human Resources, Financials etc.). As the two dimensions are “project” and “area” it can be used if you are managing a Programme of Work or a Portfolio or you are Manager of a PMO.

The key benefits are that you are able to identify areas of common risk in most of the projects.  For Example you have a financial risk in amber or red in most of your projects and all other areas are more or less green. That would clearly show that you have a common problem in the financial area.

You are also able to do the same on a project level. If one project has higher risks in most of the areas and all other projects show more or less green then there might be something wrong with that particular project.

The People attending the conference had very positive feedback on that chart as it is very powerful because of the reasons mentioned above.

After attending the IQPC Project Risk Management Conference, one of the key questions that have been raised throughout the Conference was “How to present a Risk Profile of a Project to a specific audience”. We have been talking about risk registers and processes for years, but when it comes to presenting the outcomes we fail. 

We present completed risk registers, scare people away with that, try to engage an inmature audience by completing the registers and wonder why they do not come back to the party (risk assessment or participate in the process.

This series (will have like 4 or 5 episodes planned over the next 2 weeks) will try to introduce and explain several options how to present a risk profile to an audience.

So lets start of with the most common one.

The Likelihood and Consequence Diagram:

According to the the Australia/New Zealand Standard for Risk Management (AS/NZS 4360:2004) a risk is defined by as

…the possibility of something happening that impacts on your objectives.  It is the chance to either make a gain or a loss.  It is measured in terms of likelihood and consequence.

The Likelihood is usually measured in 5 different levels, from “Almost Certain” which is the highest level to “Rare” which is the lowest level and 3 levels in between.

The Consequence is measured also in 5 different levels, from “Catastrophic” which is again the highest level to “Insignificant” which is the lowest level.

In  risk assessment or when a risk is being identified or revisited the likelihood and consequence are measured (based on company policy or method) and assessed. The outcomes of that assessment could be put on that diagram. 

And the risks in the “High Risk Area” you would focus on and need to mitigate. However, that all depends on your organisation and policy around which risks to treat and which not.

However, that chart / diagram and the risks visable on that diagram are a great method to attract attention of the audience you are presenting the risks to.

In Part 2 we will look at the so called “Heat Map” which we have seen in a presentation from Liam Wallace at the conference.