The Power of Assumptions
By Sylvie Edwards | We’ll dive a bit deeper into what it actually means to make assumptions. Trust me, it goes beyond making an A** out of U and ME
By Sylvie Edwardsfor Sankarsingh-Gonsalves Productions
Some of you may think that this is a weird subject for my monthly article, but it has a purpose. Follow me for a few seconds…
At an early age, in high school to be precise, I remember one of my teachers telling me: “Sylvie, if you are going to make assumptions all the time, you are going to make an A** out of U and ME”. I did not understand why it was such an important thing and truthfully, I thought that my assumptions were a way of asking questions to get a deeper sense of what I was not clear about. I’ve always been quite the devil’s advocate (still am) and tend to see a whole lot of scenarios around different situations so I push with questions and yes, assumptions that sometimes are outside the box. I just need to get things clear.
Fast forward about 10 years from that conversation and while I still made assumptions, I remained mainly silent about them. You can say that I denied my assuming tendencies. I still questioned things but found a different way of wording it so that I was not told to avoid assuming any longer. I then started working in operations controls, specifically in risk management and a mentor of mine said to me: “Sylvie you’ve got to assume and question more so that you know where the holes are. That’s the only way to get to the root cause of things.”
I felt free, okay vindicated but that was different than what I had been told before, what changed?
As I usually do, I went on the search for more information. I produced a bunch of definitions such as:
A thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof. (www.brainly.com)
A hypothesis is an assumption, an idea that is proposed for the sake of argument so that it can be tested to see if it might be true. (www.merriam-webster.com)
A factor in the planning process that is considered to be true, real, or certain, without proof or demonstration. (PMBOK® Guide 7th Edition, page 235)
So, all similar, they are tested in conversation or during work to see if they are real, true, or certain. Why would it then be a terrible thing to make assumptions? Was I led down the wrong path by that professor all those years ago in high school or did he simply want to stop my constant questioning?
To get this clearer in my own mind, I decided to look at how I used assumptions in project management and more specifically in the context of risk management. Just to make this clear, I am using an area I am comfortable with, but the same concept would apply to any and every decision that you can make.
When a project is authorized in an organization it is with the use of a project charter. That charter aims to establish the purpose and the vision for the project as well as set some key baseline expectations on what it intends to deliver and how. Through this process, we use a business case or other organizational information often having to “assume” elements that we will then have to prove or verify through the process of planning.
As the project is approved and goes into planning one of the key documents produced is a scope statement which will define what is intended to be delivered as part of the project. This document is also supported by and generates other key planning documents such as (but not limited to) an assumptions / constraints log, detailed requirements, schedule, budget, and risk management documentation. The intent for this set of documents is to firm up or define in more detail what was the original 10,000-foot view that our charter provided. It is through planning that we address assumptions. Are they “really” certain? Are they going to pan out as we envision?
Out of these questions comes either confirmation or doubts. Doubts are then taken one step further into the risk management process. What if this was going to actually happen? How I explain it to my students now, assumptions are like the Swiss cheese of project management. We try to know about the “holes”, and we plan on how to ensure that we’ve got them covered.
For almost every assumption, an entry in our risk register should be created. What if the vendor cannot provide us with that equipment by a certain key date? What risk response or plan will we put in place to protect our project? Assumptions properly documented and investigated become crucial to having a good risk response plan which means that we have had the discussions, and we are better prepared.
The key thing (and professor you were wrong), there are no bad assumptions. Only assumptions that we assume as true without digging any further to find proof or proper validation. That is what becomes an actual issue with assumptions, not pushing for proof. Taking the unknown as a confirmed truth, a true thing can lead you down the wrong path. As you come up with assumptions in either your work, your studies or your personal life, be clear that these are unproven and that they should be investigated. Assuming does not make us fools, it gives us better input into our decision-making process.
Take your hypothesis and make it theory…
Take your assumptions and make them part of your plan…
About the author: Sylvie Edwards has been involved in Project Management in several industries for more than 25 years, overseeing projects in the IT, Banking, Health, Government and Securities sectors. She is a post secondary #educator assisting hundreds of potential PMP® achieve their certification, and a blogger on all things related to #projectmanagement. Sylvie is a two term past President and current member on the board of directors for the PMI-DHC (Project Management Institute- Durham Highlands Chapter). She had the honour of being named Fellow of the Project Management Association of Canada (FPMAC).
A very interesting post Sylvie. I like how you broke it down and explained how your understanding and approach to assumptions evolved. I got a sense that you and your teacher's definition of assumptions collided because you both had different perspectives on it. He saw assumptions as being rooted in believing one knows somethings meaning or future outcome without testing it. Your definition of making assumptions did not see it as a confirmed truth but rather as an exploratory process that started with assuming something, but would then move on to proving or disproving it.