Summary: This episode is reserved for subscribers of the Premium Podcast. Learn how to subscribe to the Premium Podcast to access this interview and transcript... This episode is sponsored by The PM PrepCast for The PMP Exam: This week we continue our journey into project risk management with a second interview that I did with Dr David Hillson (http://www.risk-doctor.com). We will discuss “overall project risk”, which is different from “individual project risks”. At the center of our discussion is the situation when your project sponsor or client asks you “How risky is this project?” The concept of “overall project risk” is mentioned in the PMBOK Guide as well as the PMI Practice Standard for Project Risk Management, but it seems not too well understood and few project managers are using it. So let’s change that. As you’ll hear in our conversation, David will be presenting on this topic at an upcoming PMI Congress shortly after we recorded this interview. He has made his paper available to us all and you can download a PDF version right here... I also recommend that you read the following paper from David: http://risk-doctor.com/pdf-files/ADV05.pdf And of course you can always stop by at the David Hillson Author Page on Amazon, where you will find all the books he has published. Below are the first few pages of the transcript. The complete transcript is available to Premium subscribers only. Podcast Introduction Cornelius Fichtner: Hello and welcome to Episode # 273. This is the Project Management Podcast™ at www.pm-podcast.com and I am Cornelius Fichtner. You are listening to one of our Premium Episodes. Thank you for your support of The Project Management Podcast™. Your subscription fees help us pay for our expenses. This week, we continue our journey into project risk management with a second interview that I did with Dr. David Hillson. We will discuss overall project risk which is different from individual project risk. At the center of our discussion is the situation when your project sponsor or client asks you 'how risky is this project?' The concept of overall project risk is mentioned in the PMBOK® Guide, as well as in the PMI® practice standard for project risk management. But it seems not too well understood and few project managers are using it. So let's change that. As you'll hear in our conversation, David will be speaking on this topic at an upcoming PMI® Congress shortly after we recorded this conversation. He has made his paper that he is going to present there available to us all and you can download it as part of Episode 273 on the Podcast website. And now, tell me, how risky is your project? Podcast Interview Female voice: The Project Management Podcast’s feature Interview: Today with Dr. David Hillson, the risk doctor. Cornelius Fichtner:Good afternoon, David and welcome back to The Project Management Podcast™! Dr. David Hillson: Thank you very much, Cornelius. I enjoyed our first conversation. I'm looking forward to this one as well. Cornelius Fichtner: Wonderful! Let's jump right in. How do you define the term 'overall project risk'? Dr. David Hillson: Well, that's a very interesting question. There are of course answers which came directly from the PMBOK® Guide and also from other guides in the world of project management. So if we went to the PMI® practice standard for project risk management which is published in 2009 or the PMBOK® Guide itself, we have a very clear definition. Most people know the definition of individual risk, an uncertainty or condition that if it occurs has a positive or negative effect on a project's objectives and within the project, there are lots of those. But the practice standard and the PMBOK® Guide also include this other concept and it says overall project risk represents the effective uncertainty on the project as a whole and it goes on to say this is more than the sum of individual risks on a project. So we have a definition in the PMI world. There are similar definitions
