3 experts have described difficult decisions they had to take in one project.
Now think about what was important for them in taking the decision the took. Would they act differently in a different context? Why?
(If you are part of an ongoing PM bootcamp cohort on DEXA, also copy your comment to your group)
Here the project manager has to see himself as team member open to ideas in involving all the party ,collaborating, sharing ideas, considering the prons and cons of opinions, etc before a decision which is in the best interest of the project is taken.
All three persons under review did the right thing by communicating and collaborating with all the players involved in the project, this bringing together all ideas each person has due to individual expertise and experiences.
what was important to them in those situations was collaboration, getting the parties involved in a round table to discuss the way forward, if the project was going to stop, to make sure everybody understood the reason for that and that they understood that the reason for stopping the project outweighs continuing the project. Basically, it is teamwork, communication, and collaboration.
As a project manager, one has to be prepared to make tough decisions at every point of time.
Our speakers from the video talked about how they were able to make tough decisions. One has to deal with ending a project before completion. In spite of the efforts that has invested by the team, Another has deal with water supply issue. And the third one because of the language barrier, he still made decisions.
Decisions making is part of project management. And when there’s necessity to make those tough call, one must manage how one will communicate with both the investors and the team.
One of the strengths a project manager must exhibit is decision-making and risk management. A project manager must be able to decide appropriate for the best of the project and the stakeholders not minding the risk involved. The key speakers in this video did very well by elaborating on their decision-making experience and why they arrived at such decisions. In effect, purpose determines and outweighs the decision. The outcome of every project is the result of decisions taken at some point in the life cycle of the project. Decisions affect the outcome. Decision-making is crucial to achieving the overall objectives of projects; time-saving and can be cost-effective thus a stitch in time saves nine. Some decisions could be tough and painful but for a project manager, such decisions are stepping stones to success.
Another takeaway is that decisions must not be stereotyped as no two projects are the same. Different projects present different sets of risks. As a project manager, it is important to understand that circumstances have a great role to play in decision-making. For example, recently I had to decide on a need to change our operational approach having foreseen the difficulty that may arise from market forecast. The decision was communicated to all stakeholders and it was approved. The decision eventually resulted in the completion of the project ahead of schedule and helped in keeping the project within budget. The key reason for the decision was to save the project from a 45% variation which could have affected the cost and the time of completion. The decision was timely and precise.
Ogoke Nwachukwu Felicia O COHORT 18
In every project there must be Risks or difficult moments, and it is at this point that the Project manager’s skills are rated. When difficulties arise in the course of a project, it is the duty of the PM to discuss the way out with the team members and the stakeholder to mitigate what it is in order to have a successful project result.
The most important object of concern is the “Team”.
The PM needed to communicate the actual situation to the members of the team in abid to arrive at a collective decision that will be acceptable by everyone especially where the outcome is not a pleasant one.
Project management is really about managing problems and as such one should expect that as the unspoken job description. A Project Managers success is not just in the ability to come up with brilliant ideas but in the ability to carry the project team and stakeholders along ultimately A’sing the project
One goal that every project manager have is being successful in each project. It happens that some project get terminated before completion or execution because there is glitch in communication. That’s why all details are meant to be payed attention to.
The major concern is that projects intentions are successfully implemented.
As a PM you have to not only put success of your projects in mind but always make the right decisions that will not ruin the projects at the end