Beyond Project Decisions. Deciding on how to Decide

In order to survive in the competitive world economy, the effective implementation of projects and programs will ultimately determine the success or failure of organizations. More and more it is necessary to ensure that every project and program gets aligned with strategies, goals, priorities and resources of the overall organization.Projects evolve as a result of a decision chain and a pivotal reason for flawed decisions is that many project leaders think about decisions as events and not processes. Decisions are a long social process involving a series of interactions carried out by different people, unfolding over time and across multiple organizational layers. Many project managers focus too much on deciding the right solution for a problem rather than thinking about the process they should employ to make key decisions. Instead of focusing on what decisions to make they should step back and design the process to make the decision. This is the basis for Enterprise Project Governance (EPG). EPG embraces an enterprise-wide perspective, provides an overview of all fundamental components that affect the balance and effectiveness of projects of all natures across an organization and articulates an integrated framework that ultimately spotlights how to translate business strategy into effective implementation of projects and programs. This article discusses the concept, benefits and challenges involved in pursuing the concept, the rationale for a framework, the main barriers, and how to develop a plan articulating the basic elements.