 |
Issue # 54: April 7, 2006
To our readers:
One of the greatest impediments in successfully addressing customers’ needs and producing superior quality output is the assumption . . . both yours and theirs.
If you act on a false assumption as though it were true, the outcome could be, at best, a side trip down a wrong, yet benign, path; at worst, it could be deadly.
The best way to avoid the consequences of false assumptions is simple: Don’t make assumptions. Ever. Good advice? Certainly, if you ignore the fact that it is impossible to follow. You can’t stop making assumptions. You make them all the time. A more practical approach is to become aware of the fact that you are making assumptions, identify them, and question them.
|
 |
Four Tips for Dealing With Assumptions:
1. Ask questions about your own assumptions.
What assumptions am I making:
. . . about this project and my role in it?
. . . about what others expect of me?
. . . about my customers’ perception of my role?
2. Ask questions about your customers’ assumptions.
What assumptions might my customers, partners, and colleagues be making:
. . . about the project and their role in it?
. . . about my understanding of what they are doing?
. . . about my perception of their role?
|
|
3. Get together with your customers and brainstorm.
Brainstorm all the factors that are important to the success of the project. Identify aspects, parts, components, pieces, impacts, roadblocks, etc.
4. Now assumption-check the items on the list.
Assumptions being what they are, you won’t unearth every one of them. Each one you do identify is a step in the right direction. In the process, you and your customers will develop a much better shared vision and understanding of the project.
At least I assume you will.
Please address your reactions and comments to Kirk Miller.
|
|