Common project assumptions

Project assumption is a documented fact, statement or interpretation that is not expected to change for the duration of a project. A change to assumptions typically has a significant impact on a project because they are the foundation for project decisions, estimates and designs. The following are a few common types of project assumption:The technical context of the project such as platforms and environments that will be ties that will be available to a project such as offices or a data tructure that will be available to a project such as networks and communications tools. Particular attention is typically paid to anything that appears to be implicitly assumed by the business case for the assumption about the finances of the project such as currencies and budget processes. Methodology & tions regarding the approach that will apply to the project, including project management and development ew: project assumptionstypeproject managementdefinitiona documented fact, statement or interpretation that is not expected to change for the duration of a ets expectations early on about the parameters of the project.

Malone, is the seventh in an ongoing series of organizational project management articles by infocomm university™ senior instructor brad g on hundreds of projects and training thousands of project managers, i’ve often wondered why so few people around me have common sense. Many times i’ve discovered their lack of common sense three-quarters of the way through a project, which is a little late. I mean, they’re intelligent, hard-working, and committed to delivering a quality product and/or service, but sometimes they just don’t seem to think , let’s define common sense in a way that comes off as self-centered but actually holds true. Common sense is when everybody around me agrees with my perception of reality, without my having to tell them. In other words, they have common sense based upon my sense of what should be common.

What i’ve found as i’ve gained more experience is that i have to create common sense (everyone understanding common terms, procedures, definitions of quality, etc. Instead of just hoping for it and be disappointed when it doesn’t are four things that help define common sense as it pertains to an av project and its key stakeholders (clients and their representatives, sales, project managers, implementation techs, service, etc. Other organizations continue to expend little effort in their projects’ initiation and planning phases identifying and communicating all of the above, leaving their project teams in a reactive, fire-fighting mode when issues arise in the execution phase. These organizations often have to accept deliverables that don’t meet performance objectives in a project that’s already late and over other organizations, however, are beginning to see the value of managing assumptions, risks, constraints and issues across similar projects. Make it through each and every day, we routinely make assumptions in order to plan our activities, such as figuring the amount of time needed to go somewhere (grocery shopping, work, etc.

These assumptions are often based on our belief that past experiences will somehow shape future ones, especially if the future contains similarities to the past (such as our commute to work, which may have been the same for years). Although we might not think we’re making assumptions (some would say we’re “using common sense”), we definitely assumption is a condition that a person believes is true now or will be true at some future point in time. It’s often based on that person’s experience and creates the context in which the person makes let’s put that person in the context of a project at work. Remember, a project is a temporary endeavor, undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. In order to plan the project, each person must make assumptions, whether visible or ’ve probably heard the saying, “when you assume, you make an a** out of u and me.

But that saying and its interpretation are among the major causes of poorly initiated and subsequently failed projects. A more powerful and proactive saying would be, “undocumented and uncommunicated assumptions make an a** out of u and me. They’re so essential to projects that i often say, “assumptions are the paper the plan will be written on. The more uniqueness, the more we have to make qualified guesses about what may tions should be written down in a bulleted list somewhere prominent in the project’s scope of work. Examples:•  room will be ready for installation (all construction and finishing complete) by april 30, 2012•  all owner-furnished equipment (ofe) will have been tested and certified•  site will have a secure storage assumptions are written as statements of fact, not hope.

If they are not true, or if they become false in the future, then a change order is are specific events (that occur in a time and place) that can impact a project negatively (risk) or positively (opportunity). They provide you with powerful information that you must communicate to the project team and stakeholders. Many project managers think they must remember every problem they’ve solved in the past, but it’s more important to share with others a project’s known unknowns (risk events). The management of risks often occurs within risk mitigation activities and the project’s contingency and management aints are conditions placed on the project by internal or external parties, and they limit the project team’s options and flexibility. They can be viewed as a sub-category of assumptions and often impact the project in a negative fashion.

Only•  loading dock and freight elevator must be used to move equipment•  contractors must receive new security pass of these conditions expand the project scope, often making the project more difficult. Sales should ask the client if there are any project-specific or site-specific constraints before the project is estimated. The project manager should verify these constraints during the field verification audit and/or project kick-off t issues are incidents that definitely cause the project to become out of alignment. The realization of a risk event may cause the project to be revised through a contingency or fallback plan —  the project manager shouldn’t need permission to exercise such plans, but does need to communicate their are bigger than the project manager’s authority to manage and usually require that a change request be initiated and moved through the documented project-change control process. This normally exacerbates and prolongs the impending crisis, ultimately leading to a loss of credibility and professionalism in the eyes of the y, the employees of a mature av integration company share with each other — and learn from — their project’s assumptions, risks, constraints, issues, mistakes and surprises.

When a company starts to create a common understanding among its key project participants (owner, sales, estimators, project managers, implementation techs, purchasing, warehousing and service), common sense begins to prevail. With this common sense, each new project team learns from the past and avoids repeating the errors and omissions of old projects — often at an incredible sense is best created early, during project initiation, when the project’s strategy and direction are determined. Purpose of tions: project tions: scope - tions: scope - tions: cost and tions: tions: legal and other tions: : r. Max : max_wideman@ information: the information contained in this issacon is for your personal project use. Vaqueros expansion ntly asked san joaquin river basin storage ntly asked luis reservoir d storage home surface storage investigations common assumptions is an effort to develop consistency and improve efficiency among the surface storage assumptions is a joint effort by dwr, u.

It was initiated in objectives of the common assumptions effort are:Provide a framework for a defensible basis for collaborative decision-making regarding the surface storage e the consistency in application of overarching policy fy common water facilities, operations, management, and p and refine a common analytical framework including tools and methods for integrated hydrologic and economic t application of common policy and analytical framework and ensure quality assumptions ally developed for the surface storage investigations feasibility studies for the following purposes:Comply with ceqa, nepa, federal principles and guidelines, clean water act section 404, esa, te necessary studies and assumptions has been influenced by other delta and central valley projects and investigations, and by other dwr and u. Bureau of reclamation projects and investigations is assumptions tated policy ished important dates and timelines for existing and future no-action fied likely future projects/programs in ped analytical ation ic analysis methods and terized and quantified water management water use ltural water use ing and water storage for conjunctive assumptions pment of common model submit comments or questions to dwr staff, at common_assumptions@ to top | help | comments or suggestions | document viewers.