Risk Management

Where to look for Books, Articles, Standards

Bill Hoberecht - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.         

To save you a bit of time in your Risk Management research, here are pointers to books, standards, government guidelines and even a toolkit to use on your project.

Building a Proficiency in Risk Management

Risk Management is deceptive – it is simple to understand, yet requires much more effort in order to develop expertise.  Here are pointers to many excellent resources that will to prepare you for implementing Risk Management on your projects.

Read Up on Risk Management

Immerse yourself into Risk Management by reading several hundred pages on the topic.  You’ll find some of these materials repetitive, but you’ll also see different perspectives on what risk management is really about.

• Some books worth purchasing
  1. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling by Harold Kerzner.  You probably should have this book or some comparable general reference book on Project Management.  Glance though the section on Risk Management.  Kerzer (well, actually Edmund Conrow) gives a good 60-page broad-brush description of Risk Management, along with a few case studies and questions.
  2. Risk Managment: Concepts and Guidance by Carl Pritchard.  I purchased the second edition of this book some time back and found it to be an adequate textbook on Risk Management.  It aligns with the 6-step Risk Management Process defined by the PMI in the PMBoK, and presents usable descriptions of over 30 risk management techniques.
• Project Management Institute materials
  1. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)—Fourth Edition.  Risk Management is one of the nine knowledge areas, and the PMBOK Guide describes the six processes of Risk Management.
  2. PMI Risk Management Specific Interest Group.    You’ll need to join the PMI and this Specific Interest Group in order to get access to this web site.
  3. PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)SM Examination Specification.  This booklet presents the criteria for being certified by the PMI as a Risk Management Professional.
• DOD and Government Related Standards
  1. Risk Management Guide for DoD Acquisition (Sixth Edition, Version 1.0).  The Department of Defense's risk management guide is an excellent introduction to Risk Management and presents a comprehensive approach to managing risk.
  2. U.S. DoD Extension to the PMBoK Guide.  Extensions to the Third Edition of the PMBoK Guide that describe Risk Management as defined in the Risk Management Guide for DoD Acquisition.
  3. The Department of Energy Risk Management Guide. 
  4. The Software Engineering Institute’s site on Risk and Opportunity Management.  Information on Continuous Risk Management along with their new focus on Mosaic.
  5. DACS Gold Practices Web Site – Formal Risk Management.  Their collection of Risk Management best practices.  Excellent survey of Risk Management, providing over 50 references to useful materials and information
  6. DAU Risk Management Community web site.  If you look hard enough, you can find some good contributions from community members.
• Articles and papers on Risk Management
  1. Risk Management for Systems of Systems© by Dr. Edmund H. Conrow, Risk-Services.Com 
  2. Understanding Risk Management by the Software Technology Support Center 
  3. Continuing Risk Management at NASA by Linda H. Rosenberg et al.
  4. A collection of papers authored by the “Risk Doctor”
  5. A Risk Management Standard from The Institute of Risk Management
•  Mitre’s Risk Management Toolkit.  A complete set of materials including process definition, software tools, training materials.