Project Assumption Management

We all make Assumptions every day, mostly without thinking about it. The reason we don't think about it is because we are so confident they are true; be it how something will turn out, what someone will do or what something is like. They are the bedrock of day to day life, and we just don't notice them.

Project Management is exactly the same; we make many Assumptions in planning our Project, things that we almost take for granted. But the difference is here we need to make a special effort to notice them, because Assumptions have a nasty habit of turning into Risks, which then may impact and turn into Issues. The flip side is that we can't and shouldn't devote a huge amount of time to managing Assumptions because it just isn't worth it - most of them are true, and his will just distract us from project delivery.

We suggest a two-step Process to Assumption Management:

1. Identify Assumptions. This is the proactive act of identifying those Assumptions that underpin your planning, those things you take for granted. They must be formally logged on a Project Assumptions Log, so they aren't lost in the midst of delivery and are available for further analysis if needed. This logging will capture only some basic information such as a title, owner, date identified and Category (Staff, Schedule etc). I suggest you exhaustively identify every Assumption possible - you can always close them later. Then, any proposal to a client or management for review should come with as many of these Assumptions bolted on as possible and appropriate; they too can validate them.
2. Monitor Assumptions. This then again pro-actively plans activity to validate the Assumption; that is to prove it is still "safe". This includes the date the next monitoring activity is planned, and results of previous monitoring activities. The frequency of monitoring can be tailored to the organisation, project or individual Assumption. But the successful planning and executing of this monitoring activity is key.

Notice here that we talk about "monitoring" in this Process and not about an "Action Planning". Risks have Action Plans, steps taken to actively manage the risk in some way; Assumptions do not warrant this action and hence are merely monitored. However the monitoring activity may identify that the Assumption has become "risky"; in this case the Assumption should be closed and a Project Risk raised (cross referenced back to the original Assumption for traceability)

We have our own Project Assumptions Log Template available in our Template Store, it is built around this process and has all of the fields needed to help improve your Assumption Management on your Project. Why not check it out now!

Stay Healthy! Project Health Check - projecthealthcheck.org