Decision Making and Project Management

Adrian,

Your statement, “You can make decisions only if someone delegates you the power to do so,” is right on target, and for the “Accountable PM,” those project-executive powers are granted through the charter.

As we have discussed before, there are countless variations of project structures; however, from a PM role perspective, let’s say there are only the following two (for purposes of this conversation):

- The “Accountable PM” or maybe better stated as the “Project-Executive PM”
- The “Non-Accountable PM” or maybe better stated as the “Administrative Coordinator PM”

From the Accountable PM perspective, the following is normally true:
- Once the charter is signed, the PM officially receives his/her “delegated powers” and then forms the teams needed to accomplish the objectives of the project. The PM (i.e., the project-executive) then delegates responsibilities to their leads and/or supporting PM’s. However, it should be noted that the accountable PM has the full right to NOT delegate, but that would normally be an irresponsible action on part of the PM. Under this structure, the PM holds the veto card on all decisions made within the operational constraints of the charter.

The non-accountable PM appears to fit the structures that you often describe in your postings, and both approaches are fine. It all depends on the culture of the organization and its governance apparatus to what gets implemented structurally.

Hi George,

I think the so called accountable PM is actually a Project Director. Project Directors usually exist in large projects in which the majority of the team members are contractors or consultants or temporary employees hired just for the project. In these cases usually the organization does not have enough people to do the project and many times not even the expertise. For instance think of a large IT project delivered to a non-IT organization. The sponsor does not have expertise in IT and that's why he hires a Project Director who in turn hires contractors or consultancies to do the actual work.

When Project Directors are hired usually the project also has a project manager that is hired by the director and who is to a large extent an Administrative PM. If the PM is also a SME then he can be delegated actual decision power over the team if not he would act just as a facilitator.

No matter if a Project Director is employed or not if the organization has people to do the work then the power of the Project Director/Manager would be severely limited as he would have no control over the team members who continue to report to their functional managers. The functional managers would then become key project stakeholder.

But despite all of these the decision regarding the solution to be used for the project would be made by the SMEs. There is no delegation involved here as you can't delegate what you can't do yourself. If the Sponsor, Project Director and Project Manager do not have the knowledge to define the solution then they can't make any decision on this aspect and are FORCED to let the SME decide.

Not letting a SME to decide requires you to come up with an alternative solution which you can't if you lack the domain knowledge and the experience. Management makes the strategic, high level decisions and lets the experts decide on the actual work related items. This is at least in my world. :)

Adrian,

I understand your statement regarding the “project director,” but under methodology (e.g., Prince or PMBOK) the project manager is that individual, as they are the one held accountable and whom reports into the governance apparatus for the project (e.g., a steering committee). Of course, an organization can structure the charter any way they want.

Your statement “Not letting a SME to decide…” is not the context I’m talking about. An appropriately directing “accountable PM” is not going to stop a SME from making decisions (especially recognizing that the PM was the one who empowered that individual to make the decisions to begin with). However, if there is a disagreement or a bottle-neck related to a SME’s activity that is affecting the advance of the project, the “accountable PM” will pull all the relevant parties together and will attempt to facilitate discussions that will assist that group in making a decision. But, if a decision cannot be made, then the “accountable PM” will make the decision for them based on the information that has been provided (obviously, not the preferred path).

The accountable PM recognizes they are NOT the expert and will serve the best interest of the project at all times, why, because they want the project to succeed as they will be held accountable if it does not.

Decisions are made at different levels and should be based on "person in the best position" to make a specific decision. In other words you have to delegate responsibility, authority and accountability to the appropriate level of the organization. If its a purely technical decision with no impact on others around then the SME of that discipline could/should be the decision maker. However as the problem becomes more and more complex then the decision moves up the line to the person who is in the best position to consider all the elements and impacts.
It is best to identify delegated responsibility, authority and accountability at the start of the project - preferably through the project charter.
In response to your latest query, the person that is to make the decision is responsible for all parts of the decision making process. Of course the leg work may be assigned to others but the decision maker is ultimately responsible and accountable for his decision. The decision maker can hold the provider of information accountable for the information provided but cannot hold anyone other than him(her)self accountable for the actual decision.

"Delegating is different from distributing work :-)"

That's a very important aspect in my opinion as many people confuse assigning(distributing) work with delegation.

Delegation is when you are responsible for performing a certain task or duty, you have the knowledge to perform it but you choose not to and ask someone else to perform the task on your behalf.

The delegated tasks may involve decision making restricted to the decision making area of the person that delegated them. The person that performs the delegated tasks must have the knowledge to perform them but responsibility lies with the one who delegated.

Assigning work is when you are not responsible for performing a certain task (which may involve decision making) you may or may not have the knowledge to perform it but it is your responsibility to have the task completed by someone else.

The person to which the work has been assigned or distributed should have the knowledge to perform it and also bares the responsibility for the work.

Example of delegating: a senior PM asks a junior PM/project coordinator/project team member to perform some project management work on the project that is managed by him.

Example of work assignment: a PM asks a project team member to perform a task for which that team member is both responsible and has the knowledge to perform it. The assigned work may involved decision making. The PM may or may not have the knowledge to perform the task himself.

If the task does involve decision making then the decision is made by the team member to which the work was assigned and not by the PM. PMs claiming that they have made the decision made by the team member and the team member just advised them, in my opinion just try to take credit for someone else's work.

I would trust and let the experts on the project team assess and decide on a matter. Or if there are established processes e.g. the CCB, QA/QC. Thus, decisions are made collectively. Some form of governance as to the decision-making process is necessary; the simplest is to keep informed. If I am the one who decides I will at the least consult first & listen.

Hi Luis,

If the decision is technical in nature and related to the actual work then only the experts can make the decision. You don't have to consult them since you are not going to decide anything, they are going to make the decision is their decision not yours. What you have to do is to ask them to make the decision.

If the decision does not directly involve the actual work but may impact the workers then yes you should consult them but only if really needed. For instance if you are a project sponsor deciding how much money to spend for a certain project then you don't have to consult the experts.

Dear Luis

In reply to your follow up question - my thoughts are as follows.

So in summary my focus on project decision making would be people, plan and purpose"
Do you use any process to communicate your decisions? Yes major decisions would be captured in the plan and purpose statement - risks would be in the risk register. Where action is required these would be captured in meeting notes or possibly an action tracker - communication would be through team meetings, and circulated documents - upward reporting through stakeholders reports and presentations - particularly the governance process - project boards.
And to check if they are being implemented?" Progress against plan, action review at meertings and appropriate actions tracking.

As PM, we are doing as below: it depends on scale of project, small or big, generally, we are doing as below: our PMs has some authority to make decision on the spot, if there is some technical or financial issues which are not possible to handle, then we have a technical team made of four expert engineers including PM, they are evaluating and sending there final decision on the issue.

Dear Peter,

My experience of the decision making process is either 1. Person with Seniority with all available information makes a decision 2. Person with seniority in conjunction with a board of directors vote on the decision with the chairman having the casting vote. 3. A mid level manager, or project manager in consultation with the project team decides on the best course of action and makes a decision. Is there any other approaches to making a decision?

Daire