What is an Assumption?

An assumption is a known fact or a key piece of information that is assumed to be true for the project to be successful.

For example, a building management project leveraging an ongoing vendor contract may move forward with the assumption that vendor staff is available at all times.  

Every project plan is created with a set of assumptions. Assumptions add risk to the project since they should remain true and valid throughout for the project to complete successfully. 

The validity of an assumption, however, may change over time which is why it is a good practice to review and reassess assumptions from time to time throughout the project lifecycle. If an assumption is continuously verified to be true, it can be closed or if it turns out to be invalid, measures should be taken to mitigate the impact on the project.

Amplify allows you to document, communicate, and validate assumptions. Assumptions are described as part of the project. A rating is assigned based on their impact on the project if proved incorrect. Mitigation steps are determined to reduce the impact.

How it works

• Assumptions are evaluated and documented.
• The owner takes responsibility for reviewing.
• Validates the assumption at various points throughout the project.
• Actions are taken to adjust the project plan in case an assumption changed.

Best Practice Implementation 

The following sample scenario describes the standard steps and guidelines to identify, document, and control assumptions using Amplify.

Scenario Background

While planning the new Marketing Campaign project in Ab & C, Inc the team identifies the general assumption that 2 personnel will be required from the Information Technology group. The team's degree of confidence in this assumption requires to be validated and its impact should be determined. If this assumption proves wrong at any point in the project lifecycle, it can lead to project delay and added costs. In case the assumption turns out to be incorrect at any point in the project lifecycle, enough measures have to be planned to ensure that the project continues without delay.

Roles Involved

Project Owner

Assumption owner

Documenting the Project Assumption

The team member who identified the assumption documents it in a way that will help everyone understand it and how it is going to be managed going forward. The team member now owns the assumption. They then communicate it to the project owner.

Rating the Assumption

The Project owner gets the stakeholders involved in identifying the likelihood of the assumption turning incorrect to determine its impact on the project. 

Devising Mitigation Plan

Describe the steps that will need to be taken if the assumption turns out to be invalid.   

Assigning a Review Date

The review date is the date on which the assumption will be validated. 

Reviewing the Assumption

The RAID Register allows stakeholders to view and track project assumptions as and when they are made. The Project owner and other stakeholders validate the assumption based on the review date.

 Closure

As the validity dates pass, the assumption is marked as closed.

See also

Creating a Risk, Assumption, Issue or Dependency item