Project Decision-making Is “Plan Decision-making” the Missing Process? David Kershaw VP, Cloud Services Altova GmbH
Oct 31, 2014
Project Decision-makingIs “Plan Decision-making” the Missing Process?
David KershawVP, Cloud Services
Altova GmbH
“They tell us what to do.”
“That guy makes all the decisions.”
“We’re not good at
decisions…”
“Everyone has an equal vote!”
Do teams think about decision-making?
• Those are patterns of decision-making
• Often called styles, modes, or models
• Every team uses at least one of them
• Some are technical. Most are not.
What do they mean?
They should plan decision-making!
Why do we bother identifyingpatterns of decision-making?
We’re wasting
time here!
Because decision-making is complex, expensive & failure-prone!
For example…
Darn it. Bad decision!
A decision may go through layers of decision-making techniques before it
is resolved.
Whatif…
$$Decision-making always costs a lot of
money, regardless of the result.
Team members 5
Average hourly rate $60
Decisions per week 6
Minutes per decision 20
Team decisions hours per week 2
$ per week $500
Decision-making $ per year $25,000
Decisions fail in many ways:
• Error in problem identification
• Missed or specious options
• Error in analysis
• Poor participation
• Poor commitment to resolution
• Results in team-impairing conflict
• Error in implementation
$#%@&?!!
Back to decision models…
How do I handle this?
Decision models may describe:
• Stages of activity
• Techniques of analysis
• Actors’ involvement
• Inputs required
• Rules for moving through stages
Models typically focus most on either:
EffectivenessParticipationCommitment
CorrectnessBest alternativesRational analysis
Or
When this is the case the PM needs to integrate both aspects
Unstructured Structured Analytical
Intuitively boiled frogs Scientific / academic rigor
There are many decision models
They range from simple to exacting
Simple 3-options style
Structured decision-making. 2.
Decision-making roles and rights. 2.
Overviews of some analytical factors. 2. 3.
The Analytical Hierarchy Process. 1. 2.
Team decision-making model choices
Etc. etc.
So many models, so little time…
A few places to
start…
Appendix G. Section 6 addresses decision-making directly. It very briefly lists 4 general decision-making styles based on 4 factors.
The PMBOK also notes in passing that: • Communication planning should include time for decision-making
• High performance is encouraged by collaborative decision-making
• Anyone in a decision-making role is a stakeholder
• Performance reports are used for decision-making
• Effective decision-making is a component of Interpersonal Skills, a
tool or technique of the Manage Project Team process
• Decision-making Authority Levels are an Organizational Process
Asset input to Plan Risk Management
• Decision Sciences techniques are used in risk management (e.g.
decision-trees) and quality control (e.g. control charts)
Unfortunately for PMs the PMBOK is weak on decision-making
So, how would you plan decision-making?Decision register
DecisionMgmt.plan
Outputs?
Decisionlog
Inputs?
Riskregister
ScopeBaseline
RAM
Plan Decision-making
RAM updated
Catalog similar decisions together
• By person responsible & participation
• By dates and workflow
• By the need for criteria or voting
The screenshots
are from MetaTeam
Consider the ranking factors
• Time sensitivity
• Cost of being wrong
• Impact on other decisions
• Measurable outcome
Align decisions with work and roles
• Decisions need a reason for being
• Tie to roles for implementation
• Track implementation tasks
Above all, plan to keep full information!
• For traceability and implementation
• To resolve disputes
• To learn and improve
Learn more @ http://metateam.net
Thank you!
David KershawVP, Cloud ServicesAltova GmbHhttp://metateam.net