Expert Judgment Role in the Project Management

Expert judgment is an approach for soliciting information provided by any group or individual with specialized knowledge or training. The judgment and expertise can be any technical or management details. Expert judgment can help to identify the potential cost, schedule impact, evaluate the performance, evaluate and mitigate any risks, review project quality, and any other processes in the project management.

There are many sources that can provide expert judgment, such as:

• Other units within organization,
• Consultants,
• Stakeholders, including customers or sponsors,
• Professional and technical associations,
• Industry groups,
• Subject matter experts, and
• Project Management Office (PMO).

Project managers should consider about the expert judgment role in the project management. Such experts can be identified early during the Identify Stakeholders process. Their role in providing technical or management expertise can help the project managers to decide the best decision during the project processes.

Interpersonal Skills in Project Management

Effective project managers acquire a balance of technical, interpersonal, and conceptual skills that help them analyze situations and interact appropriately. The following are some important interpersonal skills required for project management based on the project management of body knowledge (PMBOK® Guide):

• Leadership
• Team building
• Motivation
• Communication
• Influencing
• Decision Making
• Political and cultural awareness
• Negotiation

The appropriate use of these skills assists the project manager in effectively managing the project.

Decision Making Skills in Project Management

There are four basic decision styles normally used by project managers: command, consultation, consensus, and coin flip (random).

There are four major factors that affect the decision style: time constraint, trust, quality, and acceptance. Project managers may make decisions individually, or they may involve the project team in the decision-making process.

Project managers and project teams sometimes use a decision-making model or process such as the six-phase model shown below.

1. Problem Definition - Fully explore, clarify, and define the problem.
2. Problem Solution Generation - Prolong the new idea generating process by brainstorming multiple solutions and discouraging premature decisions.
3. Ideas to Action - Define evaluation criteria, rate pros and cons of alternatives, select best solution.
4. Solution Action Planning - Involve key participants to gain acceptance and commitment to making the solution work.
5. Solution Evaluation Planning - Post implementation analysis, evaluation, and lesson learned.
6. Evaluation of the Outcome and Process - Evaluate how well the problem was solved or project goals were achieved (extension of previous phase).