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Lesson 5 of 6
Work · Guided lesson

Manage risk, status, and change

Surface uncertainty early, report decision-ready status, and control changes to scope, time, cost, and quality.

About 38 minutes Finish with a concrete deliverable
Project Management InstituteFundamentals of Project ManagementYouTube
Course primer

Fundamentals of Project Management

From Project Management Institute. Watch here or open it on YouTube .

During the course primer, listen for ideas that change how you approach “Manage risk, status, and change.” Pause once to capture a useful point, then apply it while producing a live risk register, decision log, change log, and one-page weekly status report.
Before you begin

What this lesson is really solving.

Surface uncertainty early, report decision-ready status, and control changes to scope, time, cost, and quality. This is lesson 5 because later decisions depend on a live risk register, decision log, change log, and one-page weekly status report. Good control makes deviation visible while there is still time to choose. Use your own numbers, files, environment, and constraints so the result survives outside the course.

Why this works

Understand the idea before touching the steps.

Good control makes deviation visible while there is still time to choose.

Do this

Follow these steps in order.

Take the action in each step; then use the deliverable below to prove the lesson is finished.

  1. 1

    Maintain a risk log with cause, event, effect, probability, impact, response, trigger, and owner.

  2. 2

    Run a short weekly review of completed work, next work, milestone forecast, risks, decisions, changes, and help needed.

  3. 3

    Record material decisions with context, options, owner, date, and downstream effect.

  4. 4

    Evaluate requested changes for benefit and impact, obtain the correct approval, and update the baseline transparently.

Worked example

See the standard in context.

When a speaker requests a second session, the lead shows venue, captioning, and schedule impact before the sponsor approves a reduced version. The learner saves a live risk register, decision log, change log, and one-page weekly status report and notes the evidence or assumption behind the choice so it can be reviewed and improved later.

Quality check

Inspect before you move on.

  • The finished work visibly includes a live risk register, decision log, change log, and one-page weekly status report.
  • You tested the work against this common failure: Reporting green status because people are busy while a critical approval has no owner or realistic date.
  • Another person could verify this mastery standard: Stakeholders can see current forecast, top risks, needed decisions, and approved changes without attending every meeting.
Make it real

Your deliverable

A live risk register, decision log, change log, and one-page weekly status report.

Common mistake

Watch for this

Reporting green status because people are busy while a critical approval has no owner or realistic date.

You’re ready when

Prove it—don’t just recognize it.

Stakeholders can see current forecast, top risks, needed decisions, and approved changes without attending every meeting.

Objective evidence · 3 questions

Quick knowledge check

Answer from the lesson—not from confidence alone. Score at least 2 of 3 to unlock completion.

Not yet passed

This curriculum-aligned check is scored automatically and stored with your account when signed in. It is an objective learning signal, but it has not yet been independently validated as a standardized assessment.

1Which action belongs in the recommended process for “Manage risk, status, and change”?
2Which result is the clearest evidence that this lesson’s work is complete?
3Which choice matches the failure this lesson specifically warns against?
0 of 3 answeredEach question measures the action, evidence, or failure condition taught above.
Useful for this course

Tools, templates, and references

Project control workbookUse the planning sheets for owners, milestones, risks, decisions, and status.
Check current detailsReferences reviewed September 9, 2026. Lesson exercises are editorial synthesis; official rules come from the linked sources.
PMI — Project Management BasicsAtlassian — Project management guide
5
One check remains

Pass the knowledge check above first.

Completion unlocks after a score of 2 out of 3. Then confirm that you produced the lesson deliverable.

Go to the knowledge check