“Time and tide wait for no man”. King Canute demonstrated that the ebb and flow of the tide are inevitable and even a king has no control over them. Time, perhaps our most precious resource, is also no exception. Who hasn’t regretted not doing something because there wasn’t enough time, or time ran out as we wasted too much time deciding to do something and the opportunity slipped through our fingers?
On the other hand, how often do we regret having made a hurried decision and have had to live with dire consequences which, in hindsight could well have been avoided if we’d had more time or rather, made better use of the time available.
As a resource, time is a strange concept and it’s not just about its relativity! We can’t really buy time and we can’t store it but occasionally we give it away. Sometimes we think we make it, but for the most part time is not only wasted it’s irrecoverably lost as it’s frittered away. Time was once on the side of the Rolling Stones but it’s rarely, if ever, on the side of a project team or a business venture. However, time is neutral, and it depends on how it is used, abused or ignored as to its status as friend or foe and the risks and opportunities associated with being early, or late, or never at all.
Too much time on one’s hands can result in an idle mind which in turn can become the Devil’s playground. Remember Chernobyl and the “experiment” to determine if the reactor core would continue to be cooled if there was a loss of power; the Devil certainly played through on that one! If there’s too little time, then decisions tend to be based on a knee-jerk gut-reaction reflexes and opting for a possible short cut. In the future somebody somewhere with the benefit of hindsight will point out the bleeding obvious that time was at large and looming and the decision was “hurried”. But at the time there was merely a choice between a timely decision and a great opportunity for success or a late decision and the bigger risk of failure…a question of decision management.
Decision Management
Project Management, as per PMI, encompasses the knowledge areas of Integration, Scope, Schedule, Cost, Quality, Resource, Communications, Risk, Procurement, and Stakeholders. However, an essential part of management is about decisions and the PMBoK also addresses decision making and its importance. The need for actionable data is amplified as is the empowerment of people to make decisions, possible drawbacks of unilateral and group decisions and the need for collaboration, ethics and good governance. However, the most salient point regarding decisions is related to time.
The requirements for decisions to be made timeously is emphasised through the concept of the Last Responsible Moment. This concept states that a decision should be deferred to a point that allows a project team to consider multiple options until the cost of further delay would exceed the benefit.
In order to make a decision several things must be considered; the data and its conversion into information, how the information will be evaluated, how the decision will be made, and who is empowered to make it. In addition, we need to know why a decision is required, how it is related to the Last Responsible Moment, and who is responsible and accountable. This all takes time.
Timely Data and Information
Data and its presentation as information is essential to decision making. After all, one cannot manage what isn’t measured. The technical aspects as to the quality of the provision of a service or product coupled with data related to available resources, incurred costs, and actual progress compared against that forecast will determine the health of any project and the need for a decision to change something concerning its execution or a change to requirements.
Change, be it internal or external drives the need for decisions and decision makers need data. Data needs to be communicated regularly and in a form that managers can understand quickly and in a friendly format. If managers have to delve through tomes of text, tabulated data and endless printouts of daily records and timesheets then something is wrong. This may well indicate the truth is not transparent and that reporting has become ritualistic rather than realistic and relevant.
Piles of data may show that the project team is busy, but its evaluation is difficult, if not impossible. By the time the data is synthesised and interpreted (if somebody has the time to sift through reams of facts and figures) it will have been superseded by an updated similar tome. Graphical representation of trends showing comparisons, or histograms showing deficits, or pie charts of quality KPIs may well be better and convert data into effective information that is communicated effectively, efficiently and timeously rather than stoically regular weekly or monthly intervals.
Timely Evaluation
When making a decision the facts must be considered. When these indicate that a project is going wrong and there’s bad news it’s very easy for grief to get in the way of a decision . Oftentimes, at least after the initial denial of any problem and the possible angry shooting of the innocent messenger, the focus is on looking at the symptoms and who can be blamed rather than the cause.
The evaluation process is not just related to the processing of the information and the immediate potential problems but about evaluating how much time may be available to make the decision. For those in power they feel that they must make decisions quickly even if one isn’t required immediately. A decision to defer is still a decision and an action, not procrastination, has occurred. But, and again for those in power, they think that they need to be seen to be doing something, even if it’s just anything. Doing nothing could malign any belief in their ability to be able to do everything.
The diligent among us will evaluate the situation within the time frames required. However, for those less diligent or who can’t or won’t make a decision they will overtly demand more information, command the clarification of irrefutable crystal clarity, and use anything at their disposal to defer a decision. In any ensuing blame game, the delay will be blamed on the information providers rather than the evaluators and there will be the evidence to prove it.
Timely Decisions
Determining the cause of a problem and deciding on what to do takes time. If time is tight, then expediency will be required. A quick decision may save the day but another and possible equally quick decision will be required for the next and following days. Time needs to be made and this may only be done by deciding on priorities, one can’t win every battle and it can be a question of “he who fights and runs away may live to fight another day”.
The corollary to this is that “He who decides to fight another day can make a plan for that day”. If somebody avoids a decision this may be anticipation of avoiding any spotlight of potential future blame and an attempt to push the responsibility for both the planning and fighting onto others.
In any fight, decisions need to be made “on the hoof” by people on the ground. If time is tight and the ‘reasonable moment’ is upon them, then evaluations must be rapid with a healthy application of experience and judgement. Decisions will need to be made with or without the luxury of sufficient time but if decision making isn’t delegated then the incumbent decision makers remain accountable.
Conclusions
Time gives the impression of being timeless, it’s been around forever and will continue after we are long gone. Time is always around but there’s never enough when we need it. Decisions need to be made; if they are time bound and aren’t then there will be unavoidable regret and inevitable blame.
Decision making needs time. Time waits for no one, but if anyone has enough time then a decision can eventually be made. But if there isn’t enough time then someone must decide, or everyone may well be affected. Indecision is no-decision and no-decision will not get anyone anywhere.
Timely decisions must be made on time by accountable people and without the fear, stigma or blame that future hindsight may bring. However, in making their decision they need to be aware of their responsibility for respecting the Last Responsible Moment and that blaming others for their indecision, or their wrong decision, or their failure to meet a timeline is not an acceptable decision.
Bio:
Malcolm Peart is an UK Chartered Engineer & Chartered Geologist with over thirty-five years’ international experience in multicultural environments on large multidisciplinary infrastructure projects including rail, metro, hydro, airports, tunnels, roads and bridges. Skills include project management, contract administration & procurement, and design & construction management skills as Client, Consultant, and Contractor.