Decision Making and Project Management

Dear Luis,

I would see decision by consensus happening more in SCRUM methodology environment than in Agile environment because the Scrum master is not a project manager and does not impose the authority, hierarchy and organisational structure that you would see in an Agile project management office. I think decision by consensus should be kept to decision about what pub to go to at the weekend and decision which are more complex than that should be left alone.

Daire

I think you have to recognize the need to have the people at the front line making decisions. The preference is to have decision made at the lowest possible level where the requirement, knowledge and consequence is the most obvious. Micro-managing - that is unnecessarily raising the decisions to a higher level than is required - can be very costly both in terms of time and money. - Let the man on the shovel use the shovel, let the carpenter drive the nails. Train them as required then authorize them to make those decisions that immediately affect them then hold them accountable.
In response to your question, the decision maker must:
1) be knowledgeable in the area of the decision
2) be authorized to make the decision and implement
3) be accountable
That applies to the Chairman of the Board, the Executive Officer, managers at all levels and the worker at the face of the work.

Dear Peter
Thank you for your opinion

Do you have a process (in the solution you shared) to verify the results that are being achieved?

Dear Peter
Thanks for your feedback
We agree with what you wrote:
"The decision maker can hold the provider of accountable information for the provided information but cannot hold anyone other than him (her) self accountable for the current decision"

I would like to understand better: "Decisions are made at different levels and should be based on" person in the best position "to make a specific decision"

In my opinion, the project manager, knowing the reasons that led to the project, the business analysis, the stakeholders, the project management plan and the deliverables is the "ideal" person to make decisions, including delegating.

In other words how do you measure the results of the decision and what do you compare to. In general terms its progress towards meeting the predetermined objective or mission.
In the case of the shovel-man its most likely the volume of soil moved over a fixed period compared to yesterday or the guy next to you. Better - good decisions; worst - bad decision!
In the case of the executive it may be; safety, profit, shareholder satisfaction, share price - whatever was set as the objective.

The PM should not be the only person that knows the business analysis, the stakeholders, the plan and the deliverables. A good project manager will make sure those that need to know, know. Otherwise you are into micro-control and management - a power play. Rather than feeding down necessary information the PM insists the the team guess what is required and then makes a flourish of his decision making prowess.
The person in the best position to make decisions is the person that knows the requirements, has the facts, does the analysis, understands and faces the consequences. Controlling the decision making point at an artificially higher management level creates bottlenecks and may cause demotivation in the ranks. You may also find that inadequate or insufficient facts and analysis were provided due to the lack of knowledge of the requirements (guess work).

I am a firm believer in the Six-Sigma Model which can be used in any industry.

1. Define
2. Measure.
3. Analyze
4. Improve
5. Control

Following through with your decision and continuously improving the processual outcomes is critical to organizational success. Also, the "lean" concept can be easily implemented to eliminate Muda, Mura, and Muri. Muda is an activity that consumes resources but does not creating value for the customer (Waste). Mura represents any unevenness in an operation such as a bottleneck. Muri represents overburdening any stationwithin a process. The Kaizen mentality of continuous improvement can significantly enhance organizational success.