Synopses & Reviews
Unwelcome surprises in the life of any organization can often be traced to the failure of an assumption that the organization's leadership didn't anticipate or had "forgotten". Assumption-based planning (ABP) is a tool for identifying as many as possible assumptions underlying the plans of an organization and bringing them explicitly into the planning process. This book presents a variety of techniques for rooting out those vulnerable, crucial assumptions. It also presents steps for monitoring the vulnerable assumptions of a plan by taking actions to control them where possible and preparing for potential failure where control is not possible.
Review
"...a careful but engaging explanation of how this type of planning works...Planners who use ABP can take comfort in its realism. The author and his associates have battle tested it in real-life planning for the U.S. Army and private clients over many years...The detailed knowledge gained in ABP should permit the development of ever more relevant scenarios for scenario planning and thus more robust plans." Futurist
Review
"Essential for business managers and strategic planners interested in improving existing operation plans." The Futurist
Synopsis
This book offers examples and practical advice for analysis conducting assumption-based planning.
Synopsis
Assumption-based planning (ABP) is a tool for identifying as many as possible of the assumptions underlying the plans of an organization and bringing those assumptions explicitly into the planning process. This book presents steps for monitoring all the vulnerable assumptions of a plan, for taking actions to control those vulnerable assumptions where possible, and for preparing the organization for the potential failure of those assumptions where control is not possible.
Table of Contents
1. The essence of assumption-based planning; 2. A taxonomy of assumptions; 3. Step 1: identifying assumptions; 4. Step 2: identifying load-bearing, vulnerable assumptions; 5. Step 3: identifying signposts; 6. Step 4: developing shaping actions; 7. Step 5: developing hedging actions; 8. The art of conducting ABP; 9. Beyond ABP as a post-planning tool.