Minimizing the Bias of Subject Matter Experts Through Effective Project Management

  Estimating   Governance   Risk Management   Knowledge Shelf  

The  use of subject matter experts is commonplace throughout the lifecycle of a project. The “experts,” as we generally refer to them, are typically functional experts in their respective roles, and the project manager relies on them to make delivery estimations and identify the potential risks to a project. Depending on the dynamics of the particular organization, these experts may come from the same functional team that will be responsible for the execution of the tasks for which the experts are providing input or they may be in a special division that handles project set-up. In either case, there are several risks the project manager needs to look out for to avoid being given an impossible or very difficult delivery task.

In many business environments, the experts available for a project often work in the same functional group that will be responsible for the execution of tasks on that project. Let’s consider, for example, Project Alpha. Project Alpha’s objectives include designing a new car headlamp for automotive company XYZ. The experts working on this project are likely to include engineers, managers, and/or senior personnel from various departments who will be responsible for the development of the product. The potential pitfall in using experts from this group, who will also be implementing the project, is that they may accept the …

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