Decision Making

Many projects fail (are shelved, go over budget, over schedule, suffer serious scope creep, suffer serious scope "minimalisation", etc.) because of inappropriate decision making.

1. Inaccurate decisions
2. Untimely decisions
3. Overruled decisions
4. Conflicting decisions

In summary...

Decisions really need to be timely and accurate and they need to be made by a person or persons who are qualified to make the decision. The decision maker also has to have the support from the project team, the stakeholders and those outside of the team such that the decision does not conflict and is not overruled. Decisions that affect more than just the person making the decision, such as employees, should be examined with a view to understanding how the decision will be received (consultation breeds acceptance). Decision making processes that demonstrate the first sign of oneupmanship should be terminated immediately and the offending parties advised of their faux pas.

If necessary, create a decision log, but be sure to include at least the following:

1. decision scenarios (an explanation of the decision's origin, why it needs a solution)
2. decision originator (name)
3. the decision maker (name)
4. the date the decision was raised
5. the date a decision was made
6. the signature of the decision maker

And if you do create such a log, make it visible to the stakeholders, the project team and other interested parties. You would be surprised how quickly decisions are made when they are in the public domain and visible to more than just the original decision maker...more so if you're able to colour-code decisions that are aging decisions.

Craig Murphy, decision making - June 14, 2005