Reduce Risk by Managing Project Assumptions

Assumptions are an important and necessary part of launching a project — and you continue to evaluate them as your project progresses. Managing assumptions appropriately helps you reduce project risk. Here are four recommendations for handling project assumptions.

• Determine when you can validate assumptions. Build a plan for how and when you can validate your assumptions. The earlier you can validate an assumption, the less risk it poses for the project. You can usually validate funding availability and internal staffing data early, because they require discussions within the company. Vendors’ staff availability should also be available early, but keep in mind how much experience you need. More experienced staff may not be available in the short term. Sometimes, validating assumptions takes longer. For example, waiting for a software release so you can confirm its capabilities. 
• Identify the data you might need from stakeholders. Provide stakeholders with details about data you need to validate your assumptions and request it from them in writing as soon as possible. Don’t be surprised if you get incomplete data. Work with your sponsor to define the minimum amount of information you need to validate an assumption. If the data you require isn’t available, you need to manage that unvalidated assumption as a risk.
• Plan your actions if an assumption is proved false. Investigate alternatives if an assumption is incorrect. At times, you might be able to take a different approach to complete your project. For example, create a more people-intensive process versus using automation that won’t be available on time. In other cases, an invalid assumption may mean cancelling or postponing the project is the best course. Discuss these possibilities with the sponsor in advance.
• Plan around assumption validation events. You will validate assumptions such as government approvals or legislation being passed at specific times during your project. Treat these as significant milestones. Schedule meetings to confirm your plans going forward, such as modifying or cancelling the project. Communicate those potential outcomes and plans going forward with your key stakeholders. 

How do you manage project assumptions? Have you experienced any challenges not mentioned here? Have questions? Share with us in the comment section.

For more about project assumptions, check out my Project Management Foundations course.

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