Why Decisions Fail

Rating:
Summary: Avoid Debacles
Review: If we can accept Microsoft's statistic that more than 74 percent of the projects undertaken by business are behind schedule or result in failure, costing more than $74 billion a year, then this book is a bargain.

Ohio State University Professor Paul C. Nutt, who has spent more than 20 years studying how decision are made, says failures can be traced to three blunders and seven traps. Avoiding the blunders and the traps they set will cut one's failure rate significantly.

The blunders to avoid:
•Failure-Prone Practices
•Premature Commitments
•Wrong-Headed Investments.

These blunders lead unsuspecting managers into seven ensnaring traps:
•Failure to Reconcile Claims
•Failure to Manage the Forces Created by a Decision
•Ambiguous Directions
•Limited Search with No Innovation
•Misuse of Evaluation
•Avoidance of Ethic Questions
•Failure to Learn.

Sounds simple; yet anyone who has participated in a project recognizes these blunders and traps. In fact, most of us could supply the author with reams of case studies to add to the ones he uses to illustrate his points.

This is a great book and should be read by project managers and corporate managers alike. Microsoft's number may seem high, but there is no doubt we participate in too many projects that spiral behind schedule and over-budget. Good decision making techniques can only help improve our results.