Decision making wrap-up
Reflecting on my 2 earlier posts:
Decision making made easy..
Identified 5 enablers we should pay attention to facilitate decision making on projects
5 Key enablers for decision-making on your project
Considered the typical symptoms when any of the 5 enablers are Failing (RED) or Good (GREEN). It also identified some useful simple project metrics a PMO can maintain to report on decision making. - Always helpful when you need to flag where things are going well (or not) and focus project team or sponsors attention.
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In this post I cover:
(A) When and how to introduce and reinforce the decision making process and,
(B) What data and functions a good decision tracking system should have.
(A) When and how to introduce and reinforce the decision-making process.
Decision-making is best introduced as a topic at the very start of a project during the project initiation phase when project governance structures are being discussed and created. It should also be revisited in an open forum at the beginning of each phase. Most stakeholders are usually willing to accept that decisions will need to be made at all stages for a project to progress but culturally they might not be ready to accept a rigorous decision making structure in which decisions can be tracked. This is usually the first problem for a project manager to address and it requires some sound reasoning as to why having a decision structure is a good thing.
In practice I have found that most stakeholders are more willing to accept a decision process and structure once they understand the benefits such as:
- It reduces conflict - By having a shared understanding of the actions required to make a decision
- It builds consensus - Through open discussion - where there is collective reasoning & consideration of options for a decision. This activity also shares then decision problem
- It helps keep the project on plan - Through having timely reviews of actions and decisions - So enabling the project to keep on track
- It reduces emails (and work) by holding one version of a decision - Having one version of a decision recorded on the system means that there is one reference point/definitions for all key decisions and supporting actions / material /options.
The Design Authority
Using a governance forum such as a Design Authority (DA) take the responsibility for ensuring that all key decisions are appropriately identified and assigned will build trust, bring certainty, and establish confidence that the project vision and scope will be based on sound decisions. The DA forum should be a formally arranged meeting that is held at least weekly for the duration of the project - not just for the design phase. It should also be used on both waterfall and agile types of projects. The details of the workings of the DA should be presented in the Project kick-off, documented in the Project Charter or Project Initiation Document, and actual work completed / outstanding for the DA summarised and reported on in the weekly Project Status Report. - This summary PSR reporting can often be achieved through the metrics suggested in my previous post
(B) What data and functions a good decision tracking system should have.
Suggested data to collect on a decision is:
As far as tracking mechanisms go I've found Excel and SharePoint most commonly used. Of the two I would recommend SharePoint as the best tool for the following reasons:
- SharePoint is real time and can be updated by users simultaneously
- It easily handles attachments and hyperlinks to other artefacts like Actions, White papers, emails etc.
- Trace-ability - updates can be tracked
- Workflow can be used so no need to update anyone - saves on lots of emails
- Metric reports can easily be defined and automatically get updated by system real time
- Ease of access and update remotely
- SharePoint lists are usually automatically backed up
- Security access is easy to set up & control
- Training required is usually minimal
In summary
The need to track decisions on projects is a no-brainer if you want to keep a project on tract and know what was decided on a project and when. To make decision-making on a project successful the project will need:
- Ongoing pro-activity around the 5 enablers ( Routine, Rigour, Understanding, Actions and Leadership)
- A system accessible to (and used by) all
