1. Decision Quality Tool Project Management Greater than 5 years from CoP
August 2016
001
Decsion quality case study Decision quality case study template

2. User Guide - page 1 Decision Quality Tool
This tool is designed to help project teams make good decisions by framing the problem and ensuring all options are properly analysed and considered.
The tool is essentially a template, and the project team will complete the slides in real time during a framing session. Once completed, the slides can be used as presentation material to other stakeholders to enable the project team to present the reasoning behind their decision.
Slide 5, describing the problem statement, is critical and requires complete agreement between team members. This is the step that most often goes wrong and has to be revisited. If more than one problem arises use separate framing sessions for each problem.
Slide 6 should describe the business case, the value proposition, and should clearly state why this is being done now.
Slide 7 describes what success looks like to the team.
Slide 8 enables the team to prioritise – to defer what they can and allow focus on the immediate priorities. These are noted on slides 9, 10 & 11.

3. User Guide – page 2 Decision Quality Tool
Slide 12 describes one of the alternatives that will solve the problem. Use additional slides for each alternative. It is vital at this stage that no alternative is dismissed – all must be noted as there is no information at this stage that supports either keeping or dismissing an alternative
Slide 15 describes the critical success factors – these MUST be achieved by the project team.
Slide 16 notes the information that must be gathered in order to properly consider option 1. Use additional slides for each option.
Slides 19 to 23 and 25 & 26 are self explanatory.
Slide 24 is the Decision Quality Wheel, describing the 6 critical elements required to make a good decision. The project team should ‘score’ each element; the wheel is a indicator a decision “readiness”. A bad decision or one that will not stick will have one or more of these elements with a low score.

4. Framing Session Agenda
Problem Statement
Business Case
Decision Hierarchy
Planning for Success
Decision Making
What – required information
Who – Team and decision making roles
Preliminary Analysis
Stakeholders, Opportunities, Risks
Summary, actions, issues and close

5. Problem Statement
Describe the problem facing us that needs to be resolved
We need to …………….

6. Business case What is the business case for resolving the problem?
Why are we doing this? Why now?

7. What does success look like?
Success for the […..] Project means:

8. Decision Hierarchy Deferrable – To be decided later.
Givens – The environment we live in. Decisions that have been made. Things we cannot change.
Deferrable – To be decided later.
Focus – Now. Look for alternatives.

9. Givens
Givens – The environment we live in. Decisions that have been made. Things we cannot change. ….

10. Deferrable
Deferrable – To be decided later.
…..

11. Focus
Focus – Need to be decided now. …

12. Alternatives? – Decision 1
…..

13. Alternatives? – Decisision 2
…..

14. Alternatives? – Decision #3
…..

15. Success – Critical Success Factors
Limited number of variables, characteristics or conditions that have a direct and significant impact on the effectiveness or efficiency of the effort ….

16. Information? – Decision 1…

17. Information? – Decision #2…

18. Information? – Decision #3…

19. Project Team – Who is going to do what?
Name
Function

20. Decision Makers – Who is going to do what?
Decision Making Role
Name

21. Stakeholder Analysis Stakeholder Influence (H/M/L) Current State
(-/0/+)
Strategy

22. Opportunities
Opportunity
Likelihood
(H/M/L)
Impact
Treatment Plan

23. Risks
Risk
Likelihood
(H/M/L)
Impact
Treatment Plan

24. Decision Quality Elements

25. Action List
Action
Who?
When?

26. Issue Bin
Issue
Who?
When?