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' it was making. 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 a variety of techniques for rooting out those vulnerable, crucial assumptions. The book also 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. The book provides a variety of examples and practical advice for those interested in carrying out an application of ABP in the fields of business, management, strategic planning, engineering, and in military applications.

This paper contains an account, as promised, of a study of the physical and chemical properties of iron carbonyl, similar to that already com municated to the Society on the properties of the analogous compound of nickel,* to which this forms the sequel.The combination of iron and carbon monoxide was discovered by Drs. Mond and Quincke in 1891,f and the resulting compound called iron pentacarbonyl was isolated (as a coloured liquid), and examined by Drs. Mond and Langer $ in the course of the same year.Our knowledge of this remarkable substance is derived entirely from the observations of the last-named investigators, and a few isolated observations of others-thus the late Dr. Gladstone determined its refractive indices and Dr. Perkin the magnetic rotation. The molecular refractive power and magnetic rotation are abnormally high, and the compound is diamagnetic; such remarkable properties naturally aroused considerable interest, but the lack of any further work on the compound is doubtless due to the great difficulty experienced in preparing quantities of the compound large enough to work with.The peculiarities exhibited by this compound call for further attention, and we have examined the formation of the compound and its properties, both physical and chemical; the investigation has been carried out on the same lines as that on nickel carbonyl, § and attention has been directed more particularly to the differences between the iron and nickel carbonyls, such as the difference in formula, colour, stability and, more especially, to the action of light on iron carbonyl.We are indebted to Dr. Mond for two specimens of iron carbonyl with which the investigation was begun; latterly we have been able to prepare and use much larger quantities of the compound, and further work is still

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