Why an “Assumptions Document” is Important
One of the project efficiency secrets utilized at Atlanticon is the occasional use of Assumption Documents. These simple documents can give you a high payoff for relatively little effort. We developed the concept many years ago, thinking that it was a tool that only we would use in our consulting profession. However, the simplicity and common sense of these documents has caused us to adopt them in many more areas than we originally anticipated.
An Assumptions Document is simply a collection of all key information, stored in one document, and submitted for approval. Whenever you begin to plan for a major event, such as your testing rounds, your activation, or even the onset of your project, you work off of assumptions. We all do it in our everyday lives, right? We assume certain things and then act as if they were fact. Most of the time, your assumptions are correct – but how many times have you acted on an assumption and been wrong? It happens in projects all the time!
When Atlanticon is called in to help on a project, we take even the simplest of assumptions and document them. We build a strategy off those assumptions into an Assumptions Document, then submit it for approval at the highest levels of the organization. Then, and ONLY then, do we feel comfortable moving ahead with full scale planning. For example, when we are asked to lead the planning efforts for activation, some of the items covered in our Assumptions Document might be the exact date/time of the cutover, the amount of downtime expected, where the Command Center will be located, how long the team will be on 24x7 support, how the issues will be tracked, and what areas are being activated. It’s amazing how many times “solid” information isn’t so solid when it reaches the top for approval.
Imagine if you spent weeks planning for your activation, operating under the assumptions that you would utilize your large training room as your Command Center and would go live with a big bang on Saturday at 1am when the inpatient units are slow. The entire team is planning and rehearsing, and you are communicating this information to your end users. Then what if you go into the next steering committee meeting with 3 weeks until go-live, and you hear the CNO say that Saturday at 1am is the worst time for the ED, Tuesday at 7am is better for everyone – and there’s not a Superuser commitment to support a big bang – you’ll have to stage your units for smaller go-lives over the course of 2 months. And by the way, the Training Room is pre-booked for some international symposium that your Chief Medical Officer has had in the works for months. Does any of this sound familiar? You’ve just spent a lot of time planning one way, and suddenly have to regroup and start over.
Project Management is a lot easier when you can apply enough common sense tools and techniques. Take the time to draft Assumption Documents before each major undertaking where moderate to heavy planning is going to be involved. Submit to the appropriate people for approval, and then you can move forward in your plans with the confidence that you won’t become the “ME” in ASSUME.