It’s no secret that the complexities and interdependencies of a project portfolio are challenging for decision-makers. But did you know that poor decision-making is the cause of 47% of unsuccessful projects?
Often, our own biology and culture have the biggest impact decision-making—especially our intellect, senses, emotions, and relationships.
When we understand some of the science behind how our minds are wired and what influences or hinders our decision-making, we might best position ourselves to compensate for our deficiencies and bring out our strengths.
What keeps us from making sound decisions?
- Cognitive limits and biases
- Limited ability to interpret data
- Limited time to make decisions
- Lack of complete or accurate information
- Acting on simplified or distorted perceptions
- Relying too much on prior experience
- Not examining enough plausible alternatives
- Underestimating duration, cost, and risk of work
The bad news is that our human flaws are guaranteed to surface when we’re under the pressure of managing a portfolio of projects. The good news is that research presents us with a number of ways to counteract, compensate, and even prevent the negative consequences of less than ideal decision-making.
For a full, in-depth examination of all the factors that impact our decision-making abilities, plus how we can create conditions to optimize decision-making, download our full white paper, “Strategic Decision-Making for Dynamic Project Portfolio Management.”
Abstract: Project Portfolio Management today must be highly responsive, especially because decisions on project priority and funding directly impact organizational success. PPM decision-making, however, is a deeply complex process with many environmental and human factors that can either boost an organization’s bottom line or derail it. When we understand PPM as a dynamic, sometimes even volatile, process that requires constant flexibility, it’s clear that we must enhance and support the PMOs’ decision-making in as many ways as possible. The decision-enhancing strategies presented in this paper have all demonstrated the positive organizational impact of continuously gathering and strategically incorporating data into every decision.
ProSymmetry was founded in 2007 by passionate resource management experts. Since then we have continually strived to solve the resource management challenges that slow down, damage, and overwhelm organizations. We do this through our flagship product, Tempus Resource, which is used by Fortune 500 companies like Siemens, Airbus, Qualcomm and DELL, and was labeled a “resource management solution accessible to the masses” and was awarded the 2016 Cool Vendor by Gartner.
