- Every assumption is a project risk
- Each risk requires a handling plan
- Unhandled assumptions, means unhandled risks, means a reduction in the Probability of Project Success
The list of assumption that can create issues for the project are nearly unlimited. Some are
- We think we know what the customer wants, because they've described it to us. No units of measure for effectiveness or performance
- We think we know what risks can bite us. We don't have a risk register, a risk management process, or have incorporated risks into a planning process
- We think we know what it is going to cost and how long it is going to take. Or the customer asked us to get started and we'll figure that out as the project emerges. No upper bound on the cost or duration will be an unpleasant surprise to those funding the project.
- We were told by the software vendor that the throughput numbers we need can be met with some tuning of the transaction processor. We have no idea what the actual performance of our infrastructure is but we're going to find out soon enough.
