EXPLICIT CRITICAL ASSUMPTIONS
Pattern completeness
Incomplete *
PATTERN Category
- SCIENTIFIC APPROACH
Argumentation
ToCs facilitate project planning by explicitly articulating critical assumptions regarding the links of the project with societal transformations.
Joint development of a ToC forces project members to diagnose as precisely as possible the current state of the system, including perceptions of it.
Building on this diagnosis, the ToC development process urges them to develop explicit hypotheses about how intended transformations could unfold. Through in-depth dialogue, the tacit knowledge and implicit suppositions of actors become explicit and debatable.
Scientific theories of societal transformation can reinforce or correct claims about transformations and the potential roles of the project therein. ToCs highlight the activities that are particularly critical to realize transformative ambitions. This aids in formulating, fine-tuning, and sequencing project activities. It also helps in developing risk management strategies and allocating staff and financial resources in view of goals and pathways to impacts. Identification of risks and respective mitigation strategies was included in many of the projects reviewed. However, we found no commonly agreed way of using ToC in project planning, and projects varied in the level of sophistication of their ToCs."
Joint development of a ToC forces project members to diagnose as precisely as possible the current state of the system, including perceptions of it.
Building on this diagnosis, the ToC development process urges them to develop explicit hypotheses about how intended transformations could unfold. Through in-depth dialogue, the tacit knowledge and implicit suppositions of actors become explicit and debatable.
Scientific theories of societal transformation can reinforce or correct claims about transformations and the potential roles of the project therein. ToCs highlight the activities that are particularly critical to realize transformative ambitions. This aids in formulating, fine-tuning, and sequencing project activities. It also helps in developing risk management strategies and allocating staff and financial resources in view of goals and pathways to impacts. Identification of risks and respective mitigation strategies was included in many of the projects reviewed. However, we found no commonly agreed way of using ToC in project planning, and projects varied in the level of sophistication of their ToCs."
References
Oberlack et al 2019.