Decision Making &

Other Personal Management Skills

Challenges and Opportunities
 There is a great amount of pride and satisfaction in seeing a project completed
and in operation. There are many challenges in managing engineering and
construction due to the dynamic nature of projects.
 Solving problems as they arise instills a sense of satisfaction in the project
manager and members of the project team.
 Most project managers agree that life-long friends are created by working with
people on projects. Years after a project is completed, conversations between
people who have worked together on past projects often turn to amusing
memories of the problems that occurred and the methods used to resolve the
problems.
 Generally, the problems seem much less serious after the project is completed
than they were during execution of the project.
Challenges and Opportunities
 Successful people convert challenges to opportunities.
 Regardless of how difficult a problem may appear, there is always a way to
resolve it.
 After completing a project, most project managers are enthusiastically ready to
start a new project. They look forward to the next project and the opportunity to
apply the lessons learned from previous projects.
 Most project managers agree that they have fun doing their work.
Decision Making
 Numerous decisions must be made during management of a project that require a
significant amount of time and effort on the part of the project manager.
 While many decisions are routine and can be made rapidly, others are significant and
may have a major impact on the quality, cost, or schedule of a project.
 Good decisions cannot be made unless the primary objectives and goals that are to be
accomplished are known and understood.
 Decision making involves choosing a course of action from various alternatives.
 It is the duty of the project manager to know and clearly communicate the project
objectives to all participants so their efforts can be focused on alternatives that apply to
the desired end results. This is important because a significant amount of time and cost
can be expended toward evaluation of alternatives that may solve a problem, but not
pertain to the central objective to be achieved.
 The project manager must coordinate the effort of the project team to ensure a focused
effort.
Decision Making
 Decisions must be made in a timely manner to prevent delays in work that may
impact the cost and/or schedule of a project.
 Most of the project decisions are made internally (within the project manager's
organization), which can be managed relatively easy.
 However, some decisions are made externally (outside the project manager's
organization) by owners or regulatory agencies, particularly in the review and
approval process.
 Early in the project, the project manager must identify those activities that
require external decisions so the appropriate information will be provided and
the person can be identified who will be making the decisions. This must be
included in the project schedule to alert the responsible parties so work is not
disrupted and the project is not delayed due to lack of a decision at the proper
time.
Decision Making
 Many organizations have established policies regarding the authority for decision
making that a project manager can refer to during management of a project.
 However, there are many times when others can be consulted who have had
similar situations, and who can provide valuable opinions and assistance.
 Regardless of the situation, there is almost always another person who has had a
similar problem.
Decision Making
 The project manager should avoid crisis decisions, although many decisions are
made under pressure.
 One must gather all pertinent information, forecast potential outcomes, think,
and then use their best judgement to make the decision.
 It is not possible to anticipate all eventual outcomes, but with careful thought and
review, one can eliminate the unlikely events.
 There is a certain amount of risk in everything we do and sometimes wrong
decisions are made by good managers; however, new information may become
available or changed circumstances may arise that will require a change in the
previous decision.
Decision Making
 Decisiveness is required of a project manager to gain the respect of team
members.
 A project manager must avoid procrastination and vacillation and should
encourage decision making in team members.
 Indecision creates tension in most people, which causes stress and further
indecisiveness.
 Failure to be decisive can cause many things to go wrong; no one knows what to
do, work is not done because of lack of direction, all of which causes a waste in
talent, resources, and time.
Decision Making
 It is the responsibility of the project manager to ensure that appropriate
decisions are made by the right people, at the right time and based on correct
information.
 Once a decision is made it should be communicated to all participants involved in
the project so all concerned will know what is to be done. This can be easily
accomplished by distributing the minutes of the meeting (or record of the
conversation) where the decision was made, with a highlight or flag to denote the
decision.
Human Aspect
Human Aspect
Human Aspect
Human Aspect
Human Aspect
Human Aspect
Human Aspect
Motivation
Motivation
Motivation
Motivation
Motivation
Motivation
Communications
Communications
Communications
Communications
Communications
Communications
Communications
Meetings
Meetings
Meetings
Meetings
Meetings
Reports and Letters (Correspondences)
Reports and Letters (Correspondences)
Reports and Letters (Correspondences)
Reports and Letters (Correspondences)
Reports and Letters
(Correspondences)
Reports and Letters (Correspondences)
Root Cause Analysis
Introduction to Root Cause Analysis
Techniques
• Watch the ff youtube videos in the below links
1) 4Ms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx2nKZROEXI
2) 4Ps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xf1Cxl91PM
3) Pareto, Fishbone, 5-Whys, FMEA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMZg-Q8EBek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX3uQ72-iXs
 Origin of the name Root Cause Analysis:
Leaves, trunk, and roots are the
most important parts of a tree.
Leaves [Symptom] and trunk
[Problem] which are above the
ground are visible, but roots
[Cause] which are under the
ground aren’t visible and roots
grow deeper and can spread
further more than we expect.
Hence, the process of digging to
the bottom of the issue is called
Root Cause Analysis.
• heathcare
• heathcare manufacturing (machine failure analysis)
• industrial engineering and robotics
• industrial process control and quality control
• information technology (software testing, incident
management, cybersecurity analysis)
• complex event processing
• disaster management and accident analysis
• pharmaceutical research
• change management
• risk and safety management
When you’re doing an RCA to determine the source
of a fault, you’ll usually find 3 basic types of
problems:
• physical causes
• human causes
• organizational causes
 Steps To Do Root Cause Analysis
A structured and logical approach is required for an effective root cause
analysis. Hence, it’s necessary to follow a series of steps.
An example of how 5 Whys
diagram is applied to a software
defect:
Factors Causing Defects
There are many factors which
provoke the Defects to occur:
•Unclear / Missing / Incorrect
Requirements
•Incorrect Design
•Incorrect Coding
•Insufficient Testing
•Environment Issues (Hardware,
Software or Configurations)

These factors should always be kept

in mind while performing the RCA
process.
An example of how a fishbone diagram is applied to a software defect
 Fault tree analysis
example. Source: Six
Sigma Study Guide
References:

https://limblecmms.com/blog/root-cause-analysis-rca/

https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/root-cause-analysis/