Assumptions

Assumptions are items of information that are considered to be true or certain when planning a project without necessarily having proof of it in reality. Failing to manage assumptions is a common and often serious error in managing change.

Assumptions, are a necessary part of the project process. However, all assumptions have an element of risk. It is therefore critical that you recognise and manage this.

• All assumptions must be captured and documented in an assumptions register.
• Every assumption should be assigned an owner.
• Make owners accountable for managing the risk associated with the assumption.
• Regularly analyse assumptions and implement strategies to close out.
• Review assumptions at stage gateways and prior to approval requests.
• Assumptions on interfaces / dependencies are often critical and must be closed rapidly.

Keep a close watch on the total number of open assumptions, the number of open interface assumptions and the duration that assumptions remain open.  Whenever you say / hear / read something, ask yourself what has been assumed.