Project Management

Dealing with Risk and Uncertainty 145

of documentation you can and urge others to do the same.
Typical background documents may include the Requirements
Document, the Project Definition Document, and the business
case. (Refer back to Chapter 4 if you’re fuzzy on these terms).
Of more immediate value will be your project planning docu-
ments, such as the WBS, the project control schedule, and the
Responsibility Assignment Matrix. Finally, assemble any rele-
vant supporting documentation, such as basis of estimate
sheets, planning assumptions, and the network diagram used
for schedule development.
The point of all of this is that you want as many documents
as possible on hand to help stimulate thinking about potential
problems. A checklist can also be quite helpful for stimulating

Area Description

Scope

Estimated extent of the work, ability to clearly define

work, design errors and omissions, customer-driven

scope change

Time

Estimated project duration, estimated activity

duration, time-to-market, launch date, timing of

management reviews and approvals

Cost

Estimated project costs, downstream manufacturing

costs, downstream maintenance costs, inflation,

currency exchange, budget limitations

Technology Customer expectations, probability of success, abilityto scale-up, product manufacturability, design success

Resources Quantity, quality, availability, skill match, ability todefine roles and responsibilities

Organizational Client’s priorities and knowledge, coordinationamong departments

Marketability User expectations, sales volume, pricing, share,demographics, quality, geography, economy

Outside Factors Competitor actions or reactions, regulations

Figure 8-2 Typical areas of high uncertainty

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