Project Decision Making Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Project Managers, Programme Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-PM-071

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience working on projects, programmes or major change initiatives and understand common project terms such as scope, schedule, budget, risk, stakeholder and business case.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Project decisions often determine whether a programme delivers its intended benefits, remains within approved tolerances, and retains sponsor confidence. Yet project teams regularly face incomplete information, competing stakeholder priorities, time pressure and uncertain risk exposure. Decisions on scope changes, supplier selection, investment options, recovery actions and delivery trade-offs can become slow, poorly documented or driven by the loudest voice rather than evidence. This course gives participants a disciplined approach to making, documenting and communicating project decisions.

Participants learn to frame a decision problem, distinguish objectives from proposed solutions, generate credible alternatives and apply decision criteria. The course covers decision bias, stakeholder influence, decision rights, weighted decision matrices, Analytic Hierarchy Process, expected monetary value, decision trees, scenario planning and risk-adjusted business cases. Participants also learn how to manage disagreement, prepare approval papers, use escalation thresholds and maintain an auditable decision log. By the end of the course, they can select methods proportionate to the decision’s urgency, complexity, uncertainty and consequence.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with structured case work, group analysis, decision simulations and reviews of realistic project scenarios. Cases may include a public infrastructure delay, a bank systems replacement, a humanitarian procurement choice and a multinational supplier transition. Participants apply the methods to decisions from their own projects and leave with a reusable project decision toolkit, including templates for framing, option appraisal, governance and follow-through.

The course is suited to project professionals who already contribute to project planning, reporting, risk management or governance and now need to make or support better decisions under scrutiny.

What you will be able to do

  • Frame project decisions using objectives, constraints, assumptions and decision boundaries
  • Diagnose cognitive bias using premortem, red-team review and ladder of inference techniques
  • Construct weighted decision matrices with defensible criteria, scoring scales and sensitivity tests
  • Evaluate uncertain options using expected monetary value, decision trees and scenario planning
  • Assess decision risk using risk appetite, tolerance, FMEA and contingency triggers
  • Facilitate stakeholder consultation, disagreement management and documented decision rights
  • Prepare decision papers, business cases and approval records for project governance forums
  • Create a personal decision improvement plan using after-action review findings

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make project recommendations with clearer evidence and stated trade-offs
  • Challenge biased assumptions before they become approved commitments
  • Handle sponsor and stakeholder disagreement using structured decision processes
  • Produce decision papers that clarify approval requests and accountability
  • Build a repeatable personal method for high-consequence project choices

For your organisation

  • Faster decisions on changes, investments and recovery actions
  • Better documented rationale for audit, regulatory and donor scrutiny
  • Reduced rework from unclear decision rights and approval routes
  • More consistent treatment of cost, benefit, risk and stakeholder impact
  • Earlier escalation of decisions exceeding delegated project tolerances

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can classify project decisions and assign appropriate authority, urgency and escalation routes.

  • Decision quality dimensions: value, feasibility, timing, acceptance and reversibility
  • Cynefin domains distinguish clear, complicated, complex and chaotic project decisions
  • Classify decisions by urgency, impact, authority, uncertainty and reversibility
  • Distinguish programmed decisions from non-programmed decisions requiring structured judgement
  • Decision rights mapped between sponsor, steering committee, project manager and team
  • Escalation thresholds based on tolerances, delegated authority and decision deadlines

Participants can identify common judgement traps and apply controls that improve decision evidence.

  • Recognition-primed decision model for time-critical project choices under pressure
  • Identify anchoring, availability, confirmation and sunk-cost bias in estimates
  • Premortem analysis exposes failure assumptions before approving a preferred option
  • Red-team review challenges evidence, logic, dependencies and optimistic assumptions
  • Apply the ladder of inference to separate data from conclusions
  • Debiasing controls: independent estimates, base rates, dissent and decision pauses

Participants can frame a decision problem with clear objectives, boundaries and testable assumptions.

  • Problem statements separate symptoms, constraints, objectives, assumptions and scope
  • Define decision boundaries using in-scope, out-of-scope and non-negotiable conditions
  • SMART decision objectives translated into measurable success criteria
  • Means-ends objectives distinguish desired outcomes from alternative solution methods
  • Assumption logs record confidence, evidence source, owner and validation date
  • Value-focused thinking identifies fundamental objectives before selecting options

Participants can compare credible alternatives using transparent criteria, scoring and sensitivity analysis.

  • Generate feasible alternatives before scoring the sponsor's preferred solution
  • Weighted decision matrix compares options against agreed evaluation criteria
  • Analytic Hierarchy Process derives weights through pairwise criterion comparisons
  • Separate benefit, cost, risk and strategic-fit criteria to prevent double counting
  • Normalise scoring scales and document evidence supporting each rating
  • Sensitivity analysis tests whether changed weights alter the preferred option

Participants can quantify uncertainty and compare options with different risks, pay-offs and timing.

  • Expected monetary value compares contingent costs, benefits and probabilities
  • Decision trees represent sequential choices, chance events and pay-offs
  • Bayesian updating revises probability estimates when new evidence arrives
  • Scenario planning defines plausible futures, triggers and contingent responses
  • Monte Carlo simulation interprets cost and schedule confidence ranges
  • Real-options thinking values staged commitments, deferral and abandonment choices

Participants can align project choices with agreed risk appetite, tolerances and contingency controls.

  • Risk appetite and tolerance shape acceptable project decision exposure
  • Risk matrix prioritises threats and opportunities by probability and impact
  • FMEA ranks failure modes using severity, occurrence and detection scores
  • Decision triggers connect leading indicators to predefined contingency actions
  • Risk-adjusted business cases state residual exposure, controls and ownership
  • Document uncertainty ranges rather than presenting single-point forecasts

Participants can involve stakeholders appropriately and manage disagreement without losing decision momentum.

  • Stakeholder analysis identifies interests, influence, information needs and likely resistance
  • RACI matrix clarifies recommendation, approval, consultation and communication responsibilities
  • Consultation plans distinguish informing, seeking input, negotiating and co-deciding
  • Frame recommendations around stakeholder value, evidence, trade-offs and consequences
  • Manage conflicts using principled negotiation, objective criteria and option generation
  • Record dissent and minority views within the decision rationale

Participants can establish governance records that support timely approvals and subsequent assurance.

  • Decision governance aligns authority with project charter and organisational controls
  • Business case sections link options, benefits, costs, risks and recommendations
  • Stage-gate reviews test readiness against explicit approval criteria
  • Decision logs capture context, alternatives, approvers, rationale and conditions
  • Escalate decisions using agreed tolerances, deadlines and delegated limits
  • Audit trails preserve evidence for public-sector, regulated and donor-funded projects

Participants can communicate decisions clearly and convert approvals into accountable implementation actions.

  • Recommendation briefs present decision, rationale, evidence, risks and requested action
  • One-page decision papers distinguish facts, assumptions, options and recommendations
  • Implementation plans assign actions, dependencies, resources, dates and owners
  • Benefits realisation measures connect decisions to planned project outcomes
  • Change-control procedures assess downstream scope, schedule, cost and risk effects
  • Communicate rejected alternatives respectfully to maintain commitment and trust

Participants can review decision outcomes and create an improvement plan for recurring project choices.

  • Decision review compares expected results, actual outcomes and missed signals
  • After-action reviews identify judgement errors, process gaps and corrective actions
  • Outcome tracking separates decision quality from favourable or unfavourable results
  • Update decision rules using lessons, evidence and changing project conditions
  • Personal decision action plans specify recurring choices and improvement controls
  • Peer accountability arrangements schedule follow-up on selected decision practices

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Project decision-framing template
  2. Weighted decision matrix template
  3. Decision tree and expected monetary value worksheet
  4. Project decision log
  5. Risk-adjusted business case checklist
  6. Personal decision improvement plan

Who should attend

  • Project Managers — need defensible methods for scope, schedule, cost and risk trade-offs
  • Programme Managers — coordinate decisions spanning multiple projects, sponsors and workstreams
  • Project Sponsors — approve investments, changes and recovery actions with clearer evidence
  • PMO Managers — establish consistent decision records, escalation routes and approval controls
  • Business Analysts — structure options, evaluation criteria and recommendations for project boards
  • Workstream Leads — make timely operational choices while managing dependencies and stakeholder concerns

Skills and tools covered

Decision framingOption appraisalBias managementRisk-based decisionsStakeholder alignmentDecision governance

Tools and standards

PMI PMBOK Guide, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), RACI matrix, Monte Carlo simulation

How the course runs

Training methodology

The instructor uses short briefings to introduce each method, followed by case work, facilitated group exercises and decision simulations. Participants compare alternative options, test assumptions, assess risk exposure and prepare recommendations for simulated project boards. Cases reflect decisions commonly faced in capital projects, technology change, procurement and service delivery. Individual application planning connects the methods to participants’ current projects. Instructor feedback focuses on evidence quality, decision logic, stakeholder handling and the clarity of decision records.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience working on projects, programmes or major change initiatives and understand common project terms such as scope, schedule, budget, risk, stakeholder and business case. Experience of contributing to status reports, risk registers, change requests or project meetings is helpful. Participants should bring awareness of one current or recent project decision they can use during application planning. Formal project management certification is not required, and no advanced mathematics, statistics software or prior decision-analysis training is assumed.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should have experience contributing to projects or change initiatives and understand basic project terms. No formal certification, advanced mathematics or previous decision-analysis course is required.

Bring details of a current or recent project decision, such as a scope change, supplier choice, funding request or delivery trade-off. Sensitive information can be anonymised, and course templates are provided.

It is designed for project managers, programme managers, sponsors, PMO staff, business analysts and workstream leads. It is particularly useful for people who prepare recommendations or approve decisions under time and stakeholder pressure.

General project management courses cover planning, delivery and control across the project lifecycle, while risk courses focus on identifying and treating uncertainty. This course concentrates on selecting, justifying, approving and reviewing project choices using structured decision methods.

Participants can use the decision-framing template, weighted matrix, decision log and recommendation structure immediately. The methods apply to change requests, procurement choices, resource allocation, recovery plans and investment approvals.

The course is delivered through ten modules across five training days, normally from 08:30 to 16:30 with breaks and about 6.5 contact hours each day. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, group work, simulations and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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