Decision Making

Definition

Decision Making

the common task during which important decisions are properly made

Objectives

The typical objectives of decision making are to:

• Identify decisions that are sufficiently important that they require the application of decision theory techniques.

Preconditions

Decision making can typically begin when the following preconditions hold:

• An issue requiring the making of an important decision is identified.
• People playing roles on the endeavor have been adequately trained (or has sufficient experience) in decision making.

Completion Criteria

Decision making is typically complete when the following postconditions hold:

• The decision has been properly made, recorded, and communicated.

Steps

Decision making typically involves stakeholders performing the following steps in an iterative, incremental, and parallel manner:

• Identify an important decision that must be made.
• Identify the decision objective(s).
• Identify the alternative decisions that could be made.
• Select an appropriate decision-making technique(s) to be used.
• Identify the selection criteria to be used (e.g., cost, schedule, risk, etc.).
• Determine the optimization measures and their weightings.
• Obtain the necessary input to make the decision.
• Consider the alternatives.
• Evaluate the associated decision criteria.
• Select the best alternative based on the established selection criteria.
• Record the resulting decision.
• Communicate the resulting decision (including its basis) to the relevant stakeholders.

Techniques

Decision making can typically be performed using the following techniques:

• Analytical Hierarchical Process
• Elicitation of Expert Judgement
• Exploitation of Prior Analyses
• Literature Search
• Modeling
• Prototyping
• Quality Function Deployment
• Simulation
• Trade-Off Analysis
• Trade Study

Work Products

Decision making typically results in the production of the following work products in an iterative, incremental, parallel, and time-boxed manner:

• Decision Report including:
  • Description of Decision To Be Made
    (decision, importance, risks, schedule)
  • Alternative Considered
  • Stakeholders
  • Ground Rules for Making the Decision
  • Weighted Selection Criteria
  • Decision Making Techniques to be Used
  • Analyses Results
    (e.g., decision trees, models, prototypes, simulations, trade study results)
  • Decision Made with Rationle
  • Alternatives Rejected with Rationales for Rejection

Guidelines

• Decision making can be used during any activity.
• The use of formal decision making should be restricted to those situations:
  • For which no clear choice exists.
  • Which justify the effort required to use the techniques to arrive at a decision.
• Certain criteria (e.g., credibility, political saleability, customer preference) are difficult to quantify and estimate.
• Decision making is applicable to the following situations (among others):
  • Budgeting
  • Source selection
  • Resolution of conflicting requirements and constraints
  • Architecting (selecting amoung alternative architectures)
  • Making Make/Buy/Reuse decisions
  • Test planning
  • Selection amoung manufacturing processes
  • Selection of manufacturing plant locations
• Identify impending decisions as early as possible in order to maximise the time available to deal with the resulting issues.
• Use decision making when there are technical alternatives for which there is no single obvious preferred choice.
• Use appropriate decision making techniques and record your rationales for choosing them. The selection of an appropriate decision making technique should match the type, scope, importance, and risk of the decision being made.
• The cost of trade studies demands the existence of objective selection criteria.
• Decision making should be conducted and documented at an appropriate level of detail commensurate with the cost, schedule, performance, and risk impacts of the decision.
• Consider all reasonable and relevant alternatives when making the decision.
• Identify alternatives for consideration in addition to any that may have been supplied with the original problem statement.
• Add alternative decisions to the list of potential candidate solutions as they are identified.
• Use well established and documented evaluation criteria.
• Evaluate the reasonableness and validity of any assumptions made during the decision making process.
• When establishing the evaluation criteria, consider:
  • Total costs
  • Schedule impacts
  • Feasibility
  • The sensitivity of the resulting analysis
• It is important to communicate the basis for the decision to all stakeholders, especially to those for which the decision is unfavorable.