RAID logs
Separate risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies to support action.
The idea
A RAID log tracks risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies. The categories distinguish uncertainty, things believed true, current problems, and reliance on other work. Entries need ownership, impact, actions, dates, and status. An assumption should be validated when it matters; an issue needs resolution; a dependency needs coordination. Keep the record linked to decisions rather than creating a static administrative artifact.
In practice
A team records an assumption about available audit retention, verifies it early, and converts a failed assumption into an owned issue with a mitigation.
A common misunderstanding
Listing everything under “risk” can hide an immediate problem that needs resolution now.
Check your understanding
Why track assumptions explicitly?
Think it through: Unverified beliefs can shape a plan and cause surprises when they turn out to be wrong.
Four categories answer different questions
A RAID log brings together risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies. A risk concerns uncertainty; an assumption is something treated as true for planning; an issue is an existing problem; a dependency is an input or relationship needed for progress. Keeping these categories distinct helps people choose a response instead of applying the same status label to everything.
A useful entry includes a clear statement, an owner, an impact, and a next action or review point. Categories may evolve. An assumption that a test environment will be available needs validation. If availability becomes uncertain, it may create a risk. If the agreed environment is unavailable when needed, there is now an issue affecting delivery. Preserve that history rather than merely changing a color.
A fictional migration meeting
A team migrating staff accounts records that the supplier's export format is assumed compatible, a specialist's leave could delay testing, a current test import fails, and production rollout depends on service-owner approval. The log makes it clear that these are four different situations. The failed import needs investigation now, while approval needs a coordinated handoff.
The meeting should focus on decisions and changed circumstances, not reading every unchanged row aloud. Escalate entries that exceed the team's authority or threaten an agreed outcome. Close an item with evidence or a recorded decision so another person can understand why it no longer needs active attention.
Classify an ambiguous concern
Take the statement we need more licenses. Rewrite it four ways: as an assumption about coverage, a risk of procurement delay, an existing shortfall, and a dependency on a purchase order. For each version, name a different next action. Notice how clearer wording changes who needs to act and when, even though the underlying subject remains licensing.
Keep exploring
References & further reading
Original explanations, with primary references for deeper study.
UK Government: Project Delivery Functional Standard