Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

Overview

This skill defines a systematic approach to identifying, analyzing, and responding to risks. Proactive risk assessment prevents surprise failures, enables informed decision-making, and ensures risks are managed at acceptable levels.

When to Use

• Before starting a new project, feature, or initiative
• Before making significant changes to existing systems or processes
• When a new threat, vulnerability, or concern is identified
• When evaluating alternatives or choosing between approaches
• Before deploying to production or releasing to users
• Don't use when: Changes are trivial with no identifiable risk (minor bug fixes, typo corrections)

Core Procedures

Step 1: Identify Risks

Brainstorm potential risks across these categories:

• Technical: System failures, integration issues, performance problems
• Security: Vulnerabilities, unauthorized access, data breaches
• Operational: Process failures, capacity issues, dependencies
• Compliance: Regulatory violations, policy breaches, audit failures
• Business: Missed deadlines, cost overruns, stakeholder dissatisfaction
• External: Vendor failures, market changes, regulatory changes

For each risk, document:

RISK: [brief description]
Category: [technical/security/operational/compliance/business/external]
Source: [what causes this risk]

Step 2: Assess Each Risk

Rate each risk on two dimensions:

Likelihood (probability of occurring):

• 1: Rare (<5%)
• 2: Unlikely (5-25%)
• 3: Possible (25-50%)
• 4: Likely (50-75%)
• 5: Almost certain (>75%)

Impact (severity if it occurs):

• 1: Negligible (minor inconvenience, easily fixed)
• 2: Minor (small delay or cost, contained impact)
• 3: Moderate (significant delay/cost, limited scope)
• 4: Major (serious delay/cost, broad scope)
• 5: Critical (project/system failure, widespread impact)

Risk Score = Likelihood × Impact (range 1-25)

Step 3: Prioritize and Respond

Step 4: Define Response Strategy

For each risk, choose one response:

• AVOID: Change plan to eliminate the risk entirely
• MITIGATE: Reduce likelihood or impact through controls
• TRANSFER: Shift risk to another party (insurance, vendor)
• ACCEPT: Acknowledge risk, monitor, have contingency ready

Document:

RISK RESPONSE
=============
Risk: [description]
Score: [likelihood × impact = score]
Response: [avoid/mitigate/transfer/accept]
Actions: [specific steps to manage this risk]
Owner: [who monitors and responds]
Contingency: [what to do if risk materializes]
Trigger: [signs that risk is becoming reality]

Step 5: Monitor and Review

• Track risk status (open, mitigated, materialized, closed)
• Review risks at regular intervals or milestones
• Update scores as conditions change
• Report CRITICAL/HIGH risks to leadership regularly

Quality Checklist

• Risks identified across all relevant categories
• Each risk has assessed likelihood and impact
• CRITICAL and HIGH risks have mitigation plans
• Contingencies defined for all risks above MEDIUM
• Owners assigned for monitoring each risk
• Risk register maintained and updated

Error Handling

• Error: Risk materializes during project Response: Execute contingency plan, escalate if beyond contingency scope
• Error: Risk score changes as project progresses Response: Reassess, adjust response strategy if score moved to different level
• Error: New risks discovered mid-project Response: Assess immediately, integrate into risk register

Cross-Team Integration

Related Skills: incident-response, escalation-management, threat-modeling, conflict-resolution Used By: Predictor agents, project managers, CEOs, security agents (Guardian, Sentinel, Watchtower), Oracle, Catalyst, Strategos