More Successful Projects Through Good Deci-sion-Making

No matter how qualified, indecision can happen to any project manager. It affects the flow of your project and impacts on the prioritisation of tasks. Effective, fast decision making will help a project move quickly and efficiently through the various stages of it's life.

More often than not, project task management falls within Parkinson's Law. For each task, work will expand to fill the time allocated to it. Like you have to give your team a timeline for each indi-vidual task, applying the same principal to your decision-making process can be beneficial. Give yourself a timeline in which to make decisions and keep yourself accountable for it.

Adding this extra level of structure to project management is particularly effective within the product-orientated PRINCE2 project management system. Project managers with a PRINCE2 Certification understand that structured, timely decision-making allows for more a appropriate delegation of responsibilities to team members. Undergoing a PRINCE2 course will help any project manager understand these concepts more thoroughly.

Regardless of how assertive or fast a decision-maker you are, being faced with a multitude of options can be daunting and bring project process to a grinding halt. The decision is made even more difficult when the respective benefits of each option are unclear or undefined. Applying a systematic ratings system to a range of options allows for an objective and structured evaluation. Assessing the benefits of each option against set criteria allow for a comparison on an objective foundation.

As the PRINCE2 project management framework has it's roots in government and IT, it has a clearly defined structure that helps with such decisions. PRINCE2 training when done by a quali-fied provider will give you the tools to implement structure within projects of any size. The PRINCE2 approach to management is fundamentally pragmatic and robust enough to accommo-date these real world complications.

Although implementing structure and criteria around a decision-making process is the first step to improving project management, it's easy to fall into the trap of always waiting for more information. Remember that you may never have all of the information pertaining to a particular decision or task. Instead assess the information you do have and move along accordingly, being prepared to adapt the task if more information comes in. Keeping projects moving throughout the process means better adherence to a deadline and budget. Undertaking a PRINCE2 course will help you understand how to work with structure throughout the management project. The PRINCE2 system has been praised for its ability to ensure ongoing project visibility, clear and effective delegation, and a product-focused approach to project delivery.

With PRINCE2 being widely used in most major economies, a PRINCE2 certification is becoming more and more important for project managers to have. PRINCE2 training will provide a practical understanding of structured project management, and give project managers the tools required to mitigate issues that arise quickly and effectively.