Project Based Problem Solving and Decision Making

2Understanding the Project Environment and the Impact on Problem Solving

2.0 Understanding the Project Environment¹

There are several activities that project teams must perform. Two key activities carried out in the management of a team include: deciding what needs to be done and then doing it. In this chapter we deal with the decision-making process when managing within a project environment.

A decision is the act or process of selecting a course of action after consideration of the alternative ways that resources can be used to attain organization objectives. In the process of making a decision on traditional projects, the decision-maker—usually a team member or a subject matter expert assigned to the team—carries out certain activities:

• Evaluation of the current environment and situation
• Assessment of what the situation and environment will be when the decision will be implemented
• Analysis of how the decision will affect the “stakeholders” who have an interest in the outcome of the decision
• Selection of a strategy on how the decision will be implemented.

Decision-making is the process through which alternatives are evaluated and a course of action is selected as the solution to a problem, opportunity, or issue.

Team decisions are inseparable from the team and the organizational planning elements: mission, objectives, goals, and strategies. Every principal decision made in the context of a project team's activities should help the team members to decide

• What is to be done? ...