Making assumptions is a normal and common way for people to simplify the world. Our brains require a large amount of energy to think about details, so we make a variety of assumptions as cognitive shortcuts to save energy, time, and attention.
The lab is full of decisions that must be made. Often, there is too little information available for these decisions, and we use assumptions to fill in the blanks. One key lesson in lab management is the need to make decisions with insufficient information. Unlike experimental decisions, we can’t go in the lab to collect more data before making many types of management and leadership decisions.
So how do you make effective decisions when you don’t have the option to generate more data? By recognizing, documenting, and testing the assumptions behind them.
Benefits and risks of assumptions
When used deliberately, assumptions help lab leaders move from uncertainty to action and enable faster alignment within teams. They also make decisions easier to explain because they clarify the thinking behind the action.
The danger appears when assumptions remain invisible. Unexamined beliefs about people, processes, or systems can quietly distort judgment and create blind spots. These hidden assumptions affect outcomes across safety, quality, morale, and financial performance. Some consequences are small and correctable. Others, such as flawed capital investments or poor change-management decisions, can persist long after the original choice is made.
Bad decisions cost time, effort, attention, and trust.
Consider the case of Maria, a staff scientist in an elemental analysis lab. She consistently delivered strong results, was well-liked by her colleagues, and had high potential for further growth. The leadership team decided to challenge her with ownership of the elemental analysis lab. Key assumptions included:
- She could lead the lab’s safety, quality, and delivery operations.
- She would drive new method development.
- She would effectively supervise three lab staff.
While she hadn’t shouldered these expectations before, Maria had effectively delivered her objectives as an individual contributor and had the potential to be a good supervisor. Making these assumptions allowed the lab to move forward with a clear ownership plan and provide stability for the team. The risk would be that she struggles or fails to deliver things that are expected of the role.
Documenting assumptions
When you take time to surface your assumptions, you improve the quality and clarity of your decisions—especially those most critical to your lab’s operations. Sherri Bassner, former VP at Intertek, consistently urged leaders to document their assumptions as part of the decision-making process. Writing them down makes them easier to examine, share, and revisit. It also allows you to treat assumptions like hypotheses in the scientific method: something to be tested, evaluated, and revised as new information becomes available.
Documented assumptions help leaders move faster when conditions change. If an assumption proves wrong, you can revisit the decision with clarity because the original thinking is visible and accessible. This reduces second-guessing and shortens the time between new information and corrective action.
In the example of Maria, the leadership team explicitly documented their assumptions and embedded them into her new performance objectives, defining what success looked like for each expected responsibility. The lab manager also gathered feedback from her peers and direct reports to assess how those assumptions were holding up in practice.
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A practical place to capture assumptions is in meeting notes when significant decisions are made. At Intertek, leadership teams recorded key assumptions alongside the decision itself and the associated action plan. This made assumptions easy to track and revisit as outcomes were reviewed. As decisions evolved, the assumptions behind them were checked, validated, or updated—helping the organization respond with clarity rather than in reaction.
Testing assumptions
Testing assumptions involves questioning them. We often can’t see some of our most important assumptions. That’s why biases are called blind spots. By working together as a team and asking questions about the process, background, and expectations of a project or action, we can help each other identify key assumptions.
A very effective way to investigate assumptions is to identify the data that should exist if the assumption were correct. Diving into the lab’s rich internal data can often yield spot checks or confirm important assumptions. However, when data cannot be found or expectations cannot be objectively justified, it is a good time to seek out the assumptions.
In our example, Maria was challenged with new expectations. By measuring metrics and milestones against the assumptions, the lab manager can test their validity.
Challenging assumptions
It is important to challenge assumptions constructively and professionally. Everyone makes assumptions, so finding one does not immediately indicate poor performance. It is always valuable to make data-driven decisions, so test assumptions against available data. Including people with diverse experiences, backgrounds, or skills can bring new perspectives to the discussion. It can also be very beneficial to conduct simple “what-ifs” during the conversation. These questions can prompt people to consider the situation from a new angle and uncover a hidden assumption.
In our example, the leadership team could be asking questions like:
- What problem will we face if she can’t fulfill her new expectations?
- What if the lab team doesn’t accept her leadership?
- What if new method development slows down in the elemental lab?
Outcomes of effective assumption management
Discussing and documenting assumptions underlying important decisions will help your lab’s leadership team be more agile. You’ll make key decisions faster and be able to pivot and adjust quickly when new information becomes available. You’ll also find it easier to explain decisions and any changes to them because you can point back to solid reasoning. Managing your assumptions will help you improve your safety and quality programs and achieve greater success when advocating to line management for project approval. Discussions about assumptions will encourage more open communication and help the lab develop a more thoughtful, learning-oriented culture.
The best lab managers aren’t perfect; they’re aware. This awareness will help you manage your assumptions better, which will improve your decision-making and pay off with greater efficiency, safety, and trust. Identify where assumptions might be affecting important lab decisions, and document them.
