We Need A Decision

Bart has been in ecommerce for over 20 years, and can't imagine a better job to have. He is interested in all things agile, or anything new to learn.

  Decision Making   Leadership   ProjectsAtWork  

Timely decision-making is critical to project success. In fact, sometimes no decision is worse than any decision. Here are three common reasons that decisions don’t get made, and tips for how project leaders can possibly circumvent them to avoid delays that frustrate the team and put the schedule at risk.

As project leaders, we understand the value of getting a decision made. And while we have a point of view about what the right direction is, we are also interested in ensuring that a direction is chosen, and ideally, with expediency. Many projects have stalled or failed outright simply because an open decision couldn’t be closed, causing the project either to lose momentum or the team to lose interest.

This is not to say that a rush to judgment is desired; making the right decision is better than making the wrong one. But often making any decision is better than making no decision. Practices such as Agile encourage decision-making and risk-taking as a means of learning about the product, the market and the customers. Next time you find yourself or your team blocked, awaiting a decision from someone, consider that often one of three reasons is the cause of the delay.

1. The unempowered decision maker

This actually comes in two flavors: the unempowered decision maker, and the one who only perceives it that way. In your project update meetings, you are probably …

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