ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the uncertainties related to the project assignment. A project is a temporary workforce tasked to create a unique result delivering maximum benefits for designated stakeholders within demands such as cost and lead time. Perceived as a system, the main elements of the project assignment are stakeholders, benefits, deliverables, activities, and resources. Explicit uncertainty refers to unclear or ambiguous aspects of an assignment element, like the unclear attitude of a stakeholder – Implicit uncertainty relates to overlooked elements inherent to the situation, such as undiscovered stakeholders.
An undiscovered stakeholder may hold requirements related to deliverables, or expect benefits. As a result of missing requirements or undisclosed deliverables, the nessecary activities to create them are lacking in the plan. As the missing activities are not accounted for, the budget will be too low. Typically, these absent stakeholders and their interests will be uncovered as the project unfolds. Consequently, the plan must be updated, and the project goes over time and budget. Worss case, this cycle is repeated several times, not uncommon in IT projects. As a rule, the later the discovery, the more costly and time-consuming the implementation. The project definition matrix, stakeholder mapping, player cards, benefits realization matrix, fit criterion, and budgeting are relevant techniques to reduce assignment uncertainty.
