1. The identification, assessment and management of risks (especially for large projects and small projects which are novel), optimism bias and mitigation requires considerable skills, professional judgement and, therefore, often professional advice. Risk audit interviews and brainstorming workshops will help to identify the relevant risks, assess any interdependencies between the risks, how they might occur, their likelihood of occurring and the likely financial consequences.
2. These techniques are at the 'soft' end of the analytical spectrum. They are particularly useful at the IA stage. At the FBC stage (and to a lesser extent the OBC stage), they can be supplemented with 'hard' techniques such as the statistical techniques described later.
3. A risk audit interview involves interviews led by an experienced risk manager/expert with key project participants and staff. These interviews are conducted individually and supplemented by peer group meetings and brainstorming sessions. The group will brainstorm all the risks which apply to the project, after which grouping under common headings may be made. The facilitator will record and distil from these risks the ones which require further investigation. These may subsequently be quantified. Risks will be separated between retained and transferred etc.