Project Decision-makingIs “Plan Decision-making” the Missing Process?

David KershawVP, Cloud Services

Altova GmbH

“They tell us what to do.”

“That guy makes all the decisions.”

“We’re not good at

decisions…”

“Everyone has an equal vote!”

Do teams think about decision-making?

• Those are patterns of decision-making

• Often called styles, modes, or models

• Every team uses at least one of them

• Some are technical. Most are not.

What do they mean?

They should plan decision-making!

Why do we bother identifyingpatterns of decision-making?

We’re wasting

time here!

Because decision-making is complex, expensive & failure-prone!

For example…

Darn it. Bad decision!

A decision may go through layers of decision-making techniques before it

is resolved.

Whatif…

$$Decision-making always costs a lot of

money, regardless of the result.

Team members 5

Average hourly rate $60

Decisions per week 6

Minutes per decision 20

Team decisions hours per week 2

$ per week $500

Decision-making $ per year $25,000

Decisions fail in many ways:

• Error in problem identification

• Missed or specious options

• Error in analysis

• Poor participation

• Poor commitment to resolution

• Results in team-impairing conflict

• Error in implementation

$#%@&?!!

Back to decision models…

How do I handle this?

Decision models may describe:

• Stages of activity

• Techniques of analysis

• Actors’ involvement

• Inputs required

• Rules for moving through stages

Models typically focus most on either:

EffectivenessParticipationCommitment

CorrectnessBest alternativesRational analysis

Or

When this is the case the PM needs to integrate both aspects

Unstructured Structured Analytical

Intuitively boiled frogs Scientific / academic rigor

There are many decision models

They range from simple to exacting

Simple 3-options style

Structured decision-making. 2.

Decision-making roles and rights. 2.

Overviews of some analytical factors. 2. 3.

The Analytical Hierarchy Process. 1. 2.

Team decision-making model choices

Etc. etc.

So many models, so little time…

A few places to

start…

Appendix G. Section 6 addresses decision-making directly. It very briefly lists 4 general decision-making styles based on 4 factors.

The PMBOK also notes in passing that: • Communication planning should include time for decision-making

• High performance is encouraged by collaborative decision-making

• Anyone in a decision-making role is a stakeholder

• Performance reports are used for decision-making

• Effective decision-making is a component of Interpersonal Skills, a

tool or technique of the Manage Project Team process

• Decision-making Authority Levels are an Organizational Process

Asset input to Plan Risk Management

• Decision Sciences techniques are used in risk management (e.g.

decision-trees) and quality control (e.g. control charts)

Unfortunately for PMs the PMBOK is weak on decision-making

So, how would you plan decision-making?Decision register

DecisionMgmt.plan

Outputs?

Decisionlog

Inputs?

Riskregister

ScopeBaseline

RAM

Plan Decision-making

RAM updated

Catalog similar decisions together

• By person responsible & participation

• By dates and workflow

• By the need for criteria or voting

The screenshots

are from MetaTeam

Consider the ranking factors

• Time sensitivity

• Cost of being wrong

• Impact on other decisions

• Measurable outcome

Align decisions with work and roles

• Decisions need a reason for being

• Tie to roles for implementation

• Track implementation tasks

Above all, plan to keep full information!

• For traceability and implementation

• To resolve disputes

• To learn and improve

Learn more @ http://metateam.net

Thank you!

David KershawVP, Cloud ServicesAltova GmbHhttp://metateam.net