Dennis M Buede

The Project Manager's Guide to Making Decisions reveals the importance of good decision-making to project success, providing the opportunity to develop skills that are often neglected in traditional project management training. Authors Robert A. Powell and Dennis M. Buede highlight the hundreds of decisions involved in managing complex, large-scale projects and in supporting the project management life cycle. They present an overview of decision analysis as it relates to project management, while also providing a variety of techniques to facilitate the decision-making process. A refreshing approach to project management and a much needed addition to literature available on the subject, this book shows how to handle efficiently and productively the decisions required for really successful project management.

This book provides a synthesis of the theory of decision making and its practical application in decision analysis. It gives an up-to-date account of the subject, and is intended for both students and specialists, and as a handbook for those who need to apply decision analysis in practice. Part 1 provides a detailed guide to the principles of decision theory. The authors introduce the literature on key ideas such as value theory, subjective probability theory and utility theory, and assess how these ideas, developed for individual decision makers, may apply to decision-making within organisations. Part 2 deals with the various strategies and techniques employed in decision analysis, and the application of decision theory in particular, documented cases. The authors also appraise the validity and usefulness of these procedures of decision synthesis. The book will be of interest to students and teachers of the theory and practice of decision analysis, and to psychologists, economists and operations researchers in universities and business schools; it will also be invaluable as a handbook to these and to professional managers in business and government, and to management consultants.