Comments on: Timely decisions http://leadonpurposeblog.com/2009/04/28/timely-decisions/ Promoting Leadership Principles in Product Management Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:15:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Michael Ray Hopkin http://leadonpurposeblog.com/2009/04/28/timely-decisions/#comment-852 Michael Ray Hopkin Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:51:03 +0000 http://leadonpurposeblog.com/?p=778#comment-852 @Byron, I completely agree. With at least four of the five things you list, people/companies can establish them as ongoing processes so they do not have to spend much time thinking about them. The five definitely apply to product management. @David, you offer a great example of how not to make decisions. Fortunately most of our decisions these days do not have similar, tragic consequences. The principle, however, applies the same regardless of the consequences. 'Proactiveness' is definitely the state you want to get to. Thank you both for your comments! Michael @Byron, I completely agree. With at least four of the five things you list, people/companies can establish them as ongoing processes so they do not have to spend much time thinking about them. The five definitely apply to product management.

@David, you offer a great example of how not to make decisions. Fortunately most of our decisions these days do not have similar, tragic consequences. The principle, however, applies the same regardless of the consequences. ‘Proactiveness’ is definitely the state you want to get to.

Thank you both for your comments!
Michael

]]> By: David Locke http://leadonpurposeblog.com/2009/04/28/timely-decisions/#comment-851 David Locke Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:57:56 +0000 http://leadonpurposeblog.com/?p=778#comment-851 Making a decision allows you to use the rest of your time to influence the outcomes of that decision. The Donner party should have stopped in the fall to construct a settlement, cut wood, hunted, etc. Instead, they delayed, so they.... Well, you know the rest. If you make your decisions about and clearly state your requirements on time, then dev can deliver them on plan. If you hedged your decisions about requirements thinking you could sort it out later, then dev certainly can't deliver them on plan. Further, you will spend a lot more time doing remediation in reactive mode. Get to proactiveness as soon as you can. It grants your time to influence, plans that work, and a good night's sleep. Making a decision allows you to use the rest of your time to influence the outcomes of that decision.

The Donner party should have stopped in the fall to construct a settlement, cut wood, hunted, etc. Instead, they delayed, so they…. Well, you know the rest.

If you make your decisions about and clearly state your requirements on time, then dev can deliver them on plan. If you hedged your decisions about requirements thinking you could sort it out later, then dev certainly can’t deliver them on plan. Further, you will spend a lot more time doing remediation in reactive mode.

Get to proactiveness as soon as you can. It grants your time to influence, plans that work, and a good night’s sleep.

]]> By: Byron Workman http://leadonpurposeblog.com/2009/04/28/timely-decisions/#comment-848 Byron Workman Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:33:27 +0000 http://leadonpurposeblog.com/?p=778#comment-848 During my sales training early on, I was taught that there were 5 things that a person needs in order to make a decision. Quality information, Autonomy of decision making, Motivation to make a decision, Confidence in decision ability, and a Recognized value system for decision making. None of the things that a person needs to make a decision included time. If you find that you or your company is having a hard time making quick decisions, it is probably because one or more of these items is occurring. As a product manager, make sure that those that you are relying on to make a decision have these five items in place. During my sales training early on, I was taught that there were 5 things that a person needs in order to make a decision. Quality information, Autonomy of decision making, Motivation to make a decision, Confidence in decision ability, and a Recognized value system for decision making.

None of the things that a person needs to make a decision included time.

If you find that you or your company is having a hard time making quick decisions, it is probably because one or more of these items is occurring. As a product manager, make sure that those that you are relying on to make a decision have these five items in place.

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