Decision Making and Project Management

Dear João
Thank you for participating in this reflection and for your opinion.

Interesting Eisenhower's Decision Matrix for "the constant decisions we need to make regarding tasks"

As long as you consider these two points

Delegating is different from distributing work :-)
Communicating is different from sending emails :-)

Dear Vincent
Thanks for this opinion

We agree: "Every decision affects some people. So it doesn't change the process."

And in the process includes consulting people?

I'm coming new to the thread and from a quick read of the later responses I wanted to offer my own perspective. Decisions take many forms, those related to people and the team, those related to planning, those related to procurement and those related to communication - to the team and stakeholders. For each I would expect to refer to company guidance - (e.g the procurement process and approval requirements) and my own experience. I would clearly seek advice if I needed an expert opinion. In my opinion the most important decisions early project decisions are related to the plan and the people - and critical is the context provided by a clear understanding of the purpose of the project - the objectives. So in summary my focus in project decision making would be people, plan and purpose. Thoughts?

Peter if you don't rely on your own knowledge or experience then you don't make the decision, those that have the knowledge do. At most you are a middle man between the client and the experts but not a decision maker. If the client asks for something and the experts come up with the solution then what decisions do you really make?

The client does know very well who has provided the solution. They know very well if the PM has made the decision on his own or the decision has been made by someone else and the PM just presented it.

Luis

I use different ways to come to decisions, not only one process.
The 'processes' I saw in this post are in my view mostly problem solution steps. They do not talk much about stakeholders involved.

As I wrote before, as example for a process the project change decision (approve/reject) is normally a formal process included in the Project Management Plan (or even the contract).

In decision meetings I strive for consensus of the group/team, if there is a major dissent, it might require an breakout before reaching the consensus.

A good analog is a hospital when doctors enter a concilium and make decisions about treatments, or the triage in case of catastrophe treatment when only one doctor makes live or die decisions.

I have seen many make decisions based on input from (several) subject matter experts, so I belief the decision maker must not be an expert at all. In most governments and corporations the people who decide up the ladder are no experts.

Having worked with Japanese a lot, they way they make decisions is a lengthy process involving all stakeholders (Ringi), decisions are accepted by all parties thru the process and are stable since real consensus is reached.

In time critical situations, I might decide by myself.

And yes, I strive to 'socialize' the context and content of the decision.

Dear Luis,

I follow the Yale framework for decision making.

1. Discuss factors and weights
2. Find & analyze alternatives
3, Apply factors to alternatives
4. Select final decision

Have the factors arranged in the chronological order of importance before you assign the weights. In fact, I have used this not only for the project situation but also for a real-life situation like selecting the university for our son. It works really great.

Luis,

I understand and recognize the best practice models for decision making and the fact that you need different models (i.e., approaches) for different types of decisions (e.g. problem solving, Routine, Personal, etc.). However, my added two cents on this topic is the following:

- Regardless of the model used, decisions that are absent of “Mindfulness,” or maybe better stated as “Self-Regulation” practices, is a decision that has an opportunity to be suspect.

It comes down to this when making a decision:
- Are you making a decision on what you feel (i.e., your emotions) or what you know (i.e., acquired knowledge)?

There’s nothing wrong with interrogating your emotions for insights, but do you have the skills to recognize the difference between what you “feel” and what you “know”? Many people struggle with clarity in this area.

Dear Adrian
Thank you for your opinion

Do you consider it wise to consult the experts and staff (where there are many experts) before making a decision?