Changing a Good Decision Making Process Based on Results

Construction projects are complex requiring thousands of decisions made across dozens of teams over many months to ultimately result in a good outcome

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
D. Brown Management
March 4, 2018 2 minute read
Share
Leadership Tools: Resulting. Don't Confuse Good Results with Good Decision Making Processes. Book: Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke.

As a leader in the construction industry the majority of your value-add is:

  1. Making good decisions
  2. Ensuring those decisions are executed
  3. Teaching others how to do the same  

In a simple system the decision tree may have a few known variables and a single clear path which is easily trainable.  

Most project decisions are more complex having more variables and outside influences impacting results over a longer time span.  Given time pressures and limits of the human brain only a few of those variables can be accounted for accurately in our mental model of a situation.  

The results of a good decision making process are not 100% good but the average results over time are good.  Resulting is a term used in poker when a player starts changing a good decision making process based on the resulting outcomes.  This seems logical but will lead to an overall decline in results with increased variability.   

Smarter, Faster, Better

Contact us to learn how we train teams to make better decisions

Rubber Ducks for Planning and Troubleshooting Effectively
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." - Albert Einstein Wisdom that is as applicable to physics as it is to being a Foreman, Project Manager, or Owner of a construction company.
Related Article
The Risks of Vision and Strong Leadership
The strongest leaders at all levels in construction have a clear vision of where they are headed and are relentlessly focused on achieving their goals. They align their teams tightly around the vision, goals, and strategy. This may introduce risks.
Related Article
Project Cash Metric for Work-in-Progress (WIP)
Do your projects burn or build cash? The biggest cash flow variable for a contractor is their projects. Cash flow is a critical scoreboard metric for contractors.
Related Article