Prompt Lists

Risk technique · See it on the map

Guide only — The checklist a reader fills in IS the technique; no figure follows it.

Working through a predetermined list of risk categories to surface risks a free-form discussion would miss.

When to use it

During Identify Risks, after the team's own brainstorming and interviews have run dry — a prompt list (a category framework like PESTLE, or a project-specific risk breakdown structure) forces a pass through categories nobody happened to think of on their own.

When to avoid it

As the only identification technique, or as a checkbox exercise run without engaging with what each category actually implies for this project. A prompt list surfaces categories to think about; it doesn't do the thinking.

Steps

1. Choose a category framework that fits the project (a generic list like PESTLE, or a risk breakdown structure built for this kind of work).
2. Walk the team through each category and ask what could go wrong in that area on this specific project.
3. Record anything genuinely new the category surfaces in the risk register; skip a category that plainly does not apply.

What it produces

• Risk register entries surfaced by a category the team had not yet considered.

Common pitfalls

• Running the list as a box-ticking exercise, recording nothing specific to the project under most categories.
• Treating it as a complete identification technique instead of a supplement to brainstorming and interviews.

Worked example

Having exhausted the team's own ideas, the PM runs the retrofit through a construction-specific prompt list. The 'permitting' category surfaces a risk nobody had raised: the historic district's design review board could require a resubmission if the exterior finish changes.

Source

• PMBOK-6 §11.2.2.5

Where it comes from: this technique is named by the PMBOK Guide, 6th edition.