Consistent variables to consider but approach varies according the set of circumstances of the situation. The limiting factor is time as the amount of time you have to make a decision will dictate the approach you will take to making that decision. We may automatically go through a set of variables and process in our heads and based on that make our decision. Not every situation has the luxury of time and resources to gather all possible information. This approach could also lead to analysis by paralysis with too much information clouding our better judgement. At the end of the days, going through all the processes and check points, a decision has to made which is still based on risk. All you are doing up to that point is limiting the amount of risk associated with making that decision. This is achieved by multiple avenues of approach but still lead to the same conclusion.
Daire
Dear Luis,
Interpreting you question do I think that in the strive for near perfection do we trample over what is successful and what works, I would say it would go back to your mindset and how you start of a project and how you progress in your career. What is acceptable for one person maybe average for another person as each person has varying degrees of standards and how they implement those standards. Bringing it back to decision making and its relevancy, I would say through learning and experience we know the approach to decision making process but we also need to look at how when decision we make go wrong and how we recovery, rectify and learn from the situation. Also why these decision may go wrong. Is it lack of buy in from team members, inaccurate information or delayed implementation of the decision resulting in a missed opportunity. Could be material for another thread.
Daire
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1 reply by Luis Branco
Jan 05, 2020 7:25 AM
Luis Branco
...
Dear Daire
Thanks for your comment
We agree with what he wrote: "I would say through learning and experience we know the approach to decision making process but we also need to look at how when decision we make go wrong and how we recover, rectify and learn from the situation. Also why these decisions may go wrong. "
In reference to original questions, there are two parts to it. The first being the question of whether I systematically follow a decision-making process and second to mention the steps I follow in the decision making.
For the first part of the question, I do follow an approach to solve any problem. The approach is always different depending upon the potential impact of the decision. Sometimes, it is always better to keep things straight with simple YES or No. As the level of complexity increases, so does the approach. Here the steps to take come in handy, which are in fact the answer to the second part of the question.
For the second part, I will not mention the book rules and procedures, rather I will only outline the approach; which in my opinion helps get my point of view. 1. Understand the problem and stakeholder's need 2. Propose a solution and visualize what could be the outcome. At this point, I emphasize on 'situational awareness'. For me, speaking to myself has never been a problem that makes me able to pre-conceive responses/results. To summarize this step, I can call it as investing some time into the visualization of the outcome. 3. If everything seems reasonable, take the decision or modify the approach.
PS: 1. The second part of the question is not necessarily the step by step approach as merely a single thread would not be sufficient to cover all the aspects of the complex decision-making process but the outline of first level steps that may or may not be expanded upon taking into consideration of the impact of the problem at hand.
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1 reply by Luis Branco
Jan 05, 2020 7:30 AM
Luis Branco
...
Dear Syed
Thank you for participating in this reflection and for your opinion.
You wrote: "Understand the problem and stakeholder's need"
Do you use any process to understand stakeholder needs and wants?
Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Jan 03, 2020 12:49 PM
Replying to Wade Harshman
...
In a project manager role, I'm rarely the decision-maker. More often, I'm doing everything I can to get other people to make decisions. That's more difficult, in my opinion.
If the decisions were mine to make, they'd get made much quicker. (Perhaps not the right decisions, but at least they'd be fast.) There are many good decision-making models out there, and if all else fails, I always keep a large coin in my pocket that I can flip.
Dear Wade
I was reflecting a little better on what I wrote: "In a project manager role, I'm rarely the decision-maker. More often, I'm doing everything I can to get other people to make decisions. That's more difficult, in my opinion. "
You mean, who makes the decisions are your team members? (Correct me if I misunderstood what you wrote)
If you are a facilitator in the decision making process, would you like to share your experience with us?
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1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Jan 05, 2020 8:23 PM
Adrian Carlogea
...
Hi Luis,
Until Wade answers I can share my opinion about this if you don't mind.
In projects I have identified the following major types of decisions: - decisions regarding on what are the requirements of the project - decisions on what to actually deliver and how much money and resources to use - decisions regarding the solution to be used in order to develop the required product or service - decisions on what is higher priority and what needs to be delivered faster
Usually PMs are involved in all the above decisions and they lead the decision making process but, as a general rule, they don't make the decisions.
For example in most cases it is not the PM the person that decides the priorities of the project and the project team. The PM however needs to ask the relevant stakeholders to define those priorities so that he can pass them to the team.
PMs that are also good SMEs in a relevant line of work can make decisions regarding the solution (if they are authorized to do so) but those that are not also technical experts can't make such decisions.
All the PMs may make some decision regarding the project management process unless the company already has a rigid project management process that must be followed.
Saving Changes...
Peter RapinSubject Matter Expect; Project Delivery| Independent ConsultantOntario, Canada
I generally agree with Rajon's seven steps. However I tend to spend a lot of attention to the problem statement (step 1). I find that we don't spend enough time drilling down and establishing the underlying issue. How did we get to this problem? Who's problem is it to solve? How critical is this problem? How much effort is warranted to achieve a solution? In many cases a problem has come across my desk because someone else failed to resolve it, or someone tried to solve an earlier problem without looking at the consequences, sometimes its only perceived to be a problem and at other times its a low risk or low cost problem.
Once we have addressed the initial problem definition then we can determine the effort to be applied towards a solution, steps 2 to 7. The solution may be a mental exercise (even sub-conscience) or a multi-discipline full blown business case.
I would add "documentation" to step 7. Could be a note in your day-book, a summary of meeting, or a Business Case report depending on the severity and impact of the problem and solution (see step 1)
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1 reply by Luis Branco
Jan 06, 2020 4:48 AM
Luis Branco
...
Dear Peter
Thank you for participating in this reflection and for your opinion.
Seems to me to be a good process Rajon's seven steps
Interesting the importance it gives to phase 1 (Problem definition)
When using this process, do you often consult with people on your team and / or other stakeholders?
What stage do you do it in?
Do you usually tell people your decision?
At what stage do you do it and how do you do it?
Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Jan 03, 2020 7:10 AM
Replying to RAJON BANERJEE
...
Dear Luis,
Deeper insight, another one very valuable question you have asked. Really very good point. Trying to elaborate the same with example:
1. Assume that a farmer is the main earning person of family & his wife need to purchase something. So, his wife is definitely asked him before purchasing the same. Because, of monetary affordability. Then question is that who is leading this family his wife or he own. Definitely, the farmer because he is the earning person. So, His decision is more valuable than other. In his stage he is taking the decision. He is nether a PM nor a manager but he is decision maker.
Now coming to the discussion thread question -
"It's one of the property which can't be learned it's born"
relating with
"Decision Making" - This is one of the main capability of all leaders in any type of organization "
It's like "all alkalis are bases but all bases are not alkalis".
Just like - "Decision making is a capability of all managers but not all mangers are good decision maker."
A leader can be in any field, e.g. if in family he/she may main income person, may in political, or may in job. But thing is that he is the Key person who have the greater values that others. That is why his/her decision is taken into account.
In example, I have mentioned a simple farmer why?
It's only because, I am mentioning Project Management we can use anywhere very common way in our daily life.
However, I am trying to establish this. May be my assumption is incorrect.
Please, share your idea on that. I am eagerly waiting for the reply to clear my ideas & It's absolutely will become great ventures for me.
Thanks,
Rajon
Dear Rajon
It took me longer to reply to your post because I didn't know how to approach the topic with you
I sincerely hope that my approach to this topic will be the most appropriate one (in our conversation I should consider that there are cultural, generational and life experience issues)
Interesting about the situation you reported, that of the farmer
I've seen a lot of situations where people who bring home family income are the ones who make the least decisions
Or when they have the last word is to say "Yes dear" :-)
It was just a joke.
I'm hoping you will play what I wrote as a joke
What is the source of what you wrote: "Decision Making" - This is one of the main capability of all leaders in any type of organization "?
Do you now consider that people (knowledge workers) accept that others decide for them and simply communicate the decision to them?
Think about the following situations:
1- The manager tells you what to do and how to do it.
How would you feel?
2- The manager asks you for your opinion on what to do and how to do it.
How would you feel?
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1 reply by RAJON BANERJEE
Jan 05, 2020 9:46 AM
RAJON BANERJEE
...
Dear Luis,
Many thanks & I am also interested to answer the following question given by you, It's my pleasure & respect to you.
"Decision Making" - This is one of the main capability of all leaders in any type of organization "?
Ans: It's only because in most of the case leaders are involved in critical phase decision & Sr. Management also play major roles on the same.
1- The manager tells you what to do and how to do it.How would you feel?
Ans: It's quite obvious. Because, if any critical circumstances arrive they need to play a major role. I have already witnessed this circumstances where I can see my manager given a master command to me "Rajon, Do what I say.". Reason was that one of the critical report is not working in production environment where UAT it's successfully evaluated. After cross examination I was a DBA & did RCA with proper investigation on the same. It take more than 5 Hrs to resolve this scenario.
I never mind on his command because he told me to do that. As he is more experienced than me. More over 25 years where I have only 10 years.
2- The manager asks you for your opinion on what to do and how to do it. How would you feel?
Ans: This situation also I deal with. As we are doing critical BFSI(Banking) operation. We need to do delivery on time & also in Green Go. At that time we have a delivery but one of the critical resource is not available so our project is on delay. As I don't have sufficient contingency, situation was worst. Bank told to impose penalty & it was a big loss. At that time my manager asked me "Rajon, How we can prevent & keep back on track this project." However, As a Sr. Technical Lead I play my role to handle this situation.
I feel it's really respectful case where a Sr. Manager communicate with this line. Because, he need to save the organization as well as customer reputation & team also.
These two was happened with me. It's real example.
Thanks,
Rajon
Saving Changes...
Eduardo Saravia NeyraElectronic Engineer| Compañía Latinoamericana de Radiodifusion SALima, Lima, Peru
Hello Luis,
To get sure to solve a correct problema follow a decision- making process
1 Identify the problem
2 Find the root cause
3 Analyze the root cause
4 Find alternative solutions
5 Implement the best solution
6 Follow the implementation of the response
This step a follow is a have a problem.
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1 reply by Luis Branco
Jan 06, 2020 5:57 AM
Luis Branco
...
Dear Eduardo
Thank you for participating in this reflection and for your opinion.
Do you often consult your team members and key project stakeholders in this process?
What process do you do it in? How do you do it?
In what process do you communicate your decision to team members? How do you do it?
Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Jan 04, 2020 1:34 PM
Replying to Daire Guiney
...
Dear Luis,
Interpreting you question do I think that in the strive for near perfection do we trample over what is successful and what works, I would say it would go back to your mindset and how you start of a project and how you progress in your career. What is acceptable for one person maybe average for another person as each person has varying degrees of standards and how they implement those standards. Bringing it back to decision making and its relevancy, I would say through learning and experience we know the approach to decision making process but we also need to look at how when decision we make go wrong and how we recovery, rectify and learn from the situation. Also why these decision may go wrong. Is it lack of buy in from team members, inaccurate information or delayed implementation of the decision resulting in a missed opportunity. Could be material for another thread.
Daire
Dear Daire
Thanks for your comment
We agree with what he wrote: "I would say through learning and experience we know the approach to decision making process but we also need to look at how when decision we make go wrong and how we recover, rectify and learn from the situation. Also why these decisions may go wrong. "
Why is there a lack of adherence by team members?
...
1 reply by Daire Guiney
Jan 05, 2020 10:31 AM
Daire Guiney
...
Dear Luis,
In situations where there is a lack of adherence by team members, a lot of the time it is because they do not respect the project manager and the decision that they make. The reason for this lack of respect is a lot more complicated but could stem from internal division within a team, not getting a promotion, age discrimination to a young project manager managing people who are older then them, lack of leadership from above in the organisation hierarchy, lethargy and disinterest towards the job that leads to a lack of respect to the project manager and many more reasons which depend on a specific set of circumstances. The decision making process is a complicated topic and it can spin off in a lot of direction, this being one so maybe we can tease out exactly what is consistently required by a project manager in order to come to a decision.
Daire
Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Jan 04, 2020 2:25 PM
Replying to Syed Muhamamd Baqar Shah
...
In reference to original questions, there are two parts to it. The first being the question of whether I systematically follow a decision-making process and second to mention the steps I follow in the decision making.
For the first part of the question, I do follow an approach to solve any problem. The approach is always different depending upon the potential impact of the decision. Sometimes, it is always better to keep things straight with simple YES or No. As the level of complexity increases, so does the approach. Here the steps to take come in handy, which are in fact the answer to the second part of the question.
For the second part, I will not mention the book rules and procedures, rather I will only outline the approach; which in my opinion helps get my point of view. 1. Understand the problem and stakeholder's need 2. Propose a solution and visualize what could be the outcome. At this point, I emphasize on 'situational awareness'. For me, speaking to myself has never been a problem that makes me able to pre-conceive responses/results. To summarize this step, I can call it as investing some time into the visualization of the outcome. 3. If everything seems reasonable, take the decision or modify the approach.
PS: 1. The second part of the question is not necessarily the step by step approach as merely a single thread would not be sufficient to cover all the aspects of the complex decision-making process but the outline of first level steps that may or may not be expanded upon taking into consideration of the impact of the problem at hand.
Dear Syed
Thank you for participating in this reflection and for your opinion.
You wrote: "Understand the problem and stakeholder's need"
Do you use any process to understand stakeholder needs and wants? Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Despite all steps, processes to support decision making, humans make far most decisions not from rational thinking but from the guts or - if you like that better - from judgement based on your specific experience. You only do it if it feels right.
In order to make better decisions you should work on your judgement.
...
1 reply by Luis Branco
Jan 06, 2020 2:13 PM
Luis Branco
...
Dear Thomas Thank you for your opinion.
The article you shared on the link has a set of important tips to consider before making a decision. Interestingly it ends: "How do you make big decisions?"
Do you usually use a process when you have to make decisions?
Do you often consult with people who will be impacted by your decision before you make it?
Saving Changes...
RAJON BANERJEEKalyani, District: Nadia, West Bengal, India
Jan 05, 2020 5:31 AM
Replying to Luis Branco
...
Dear Rajon
It took me longer to reply to your post because I didn't know how to approach the topic with you
I sincerely hope that my approach to this topic will be the most appropriate one (in our conversation I should consider that there are cultural, generational and life experience issues)
Interesting about the situation you reported, that of the farmer
I've seen a lot of situations where people who bring home family income are the ones who make the least decisions
Or when they have the last word is to say "Yes dear" :-)
It was just a joke.
I'm hoping you will play what I wrote as a joke
What is the source of what you wrote: "Decision Making" - This is one of the main capability of all leaders in any type of organization "?
Do you now consider that people (knowledge workers) accept that others decide for them and simply communicate the decision to them?
Think about the following situations:
1- The manager tells you what to do and how to do it.
How would you feel?
2- The manager asks you for your opinion on what to do and how to do it.
How would you feel?
Dear Luis,
Many thanks & I am also interested to answer the following question given by you, It's my pleasure & respect to you.
"Decision Making" - This is one of the main capability of all leaders in any type of organization "?
Ans: It's only because in most of the case leaders are involved in critical phase decision & Sr. Management also play major roles on the same.
1- The manager tells you what to do and how to do it.How would you feel?
Ans: It's quite obvious. Because, if any critical circumstances arrive they need to play a major role. I have already witnessed this circumstances where I can see my manager given a master command to me "Rajon, Do what I say.". Reason was that one of the critical report is not working in production environment where UAT it's successfully evaluated. After cross examination I was a DBA & did RCA with proper investigation on the same. It take more than 5 Hrs to resolve this scenario.
I never mind on his command because he told me to do that. As he is more experienced than me. More over 25 years where I have only 10 years.
2- The manager asks you for your opinion on what to do and how to do it. How would you feel?
Ans: This situation also I deal with. As we are doing critical BFSI(Banking) operation. We need to do delivery on time & also in Green Go. At that time we have a delivery but one of the critical resource is not available so our project is on delay. As I don't have sufficient contingency, situation was worst. Bank told to impose penalty & it was a big loss. At that time my manager asked me "Rajon, How we can prevent & keep back on track this project." However, As a Sr. Technical Lead I play my role to handle this situation.
I feel it's really respectful case where a Sr. Manager communicate with this line. Because, he need to save the organization as well as customer reputation & team also.
These two was happened with me. It's real example.
Thanks,
Rajon
...
1 reply by Luis Branco
Jan 06, 2020 6:11 AM
Luis Branco
...
Dear Rajon
Thanks for your feedback
I am convinced that all people can learn to make decisions.
The principle is: "We are free to choose (decide) but responsible for the results and / or consequences of our choices (decisions)."
After carefully reading what you have written, I do not understand what you feel when:
1. A decision is communicated without consulting you.
2. You are consulted before making any decision.
Which decision do you accept best? Which decision will you gladly implement?
