Updated: 4 November 2026

Build a risk register for a project

This prompt acts as a risk manager. You describe the project, timeline and key dependencies, and it gives ten risks in a table with likelihood, impact and early warning signs.

text-risk-register — chatgpt — 54 words

Act as a risk manager. Create a risk register for [PROJECT].

Description: [WHAT IT INVOLVES]
Timeline: [DATES]
Key dependencies: [PEOPLE, VENDORS, TOOLS]

Give 10 risks as a table: risk, likelihood (low/medium/high), impact, early warning sign, mitigation and owner role. Sort by severity. End with the top 3 risks I should act on this week.

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Review the table every two weeks. A risk register that is never updated is useless.

Get a better result

What you will get

A table of ten risks sorted by severity, each with likelihood, impact, an early warning sign, a mitigation and an owner role, followed by the three risks to act on this week.

Common mistake

All ten risks are rated high.

Fix: Ask it to spread the ratings honestly, with a short reason for every high. A register where everything is urgent gets ignored.

Also watch for

Owners are “the team”. List the roles in the dependencies field and ask for one role per risk, so somebody actually watches each one.
Vendor risks are missing. Name your key suppliers and tools. Late deliveries and price changes from them are common causes of project delays.

Try a variation: add opportunities

Ask for three opportunities as well, things that could go better than planned, with how to make them more likely.

Still not right? Reply with this

Add a date column and a status column, and mark which risks should be reviewed every two weeks and which can be closed now.