Decisions and Project Scope

This chapter focuses on projects that need approval by organizational boards, various executive and management committees at the operational and staff levels and by engineers and other professional specialists. Organizational decisions span a continuum from the very simple, yet important, to the very complex that determine the sustainability of the organization: no single decision-making design meets the requirements for reaching all decisions and every organization is trapped in its own organizational procedures and customs. The strategic and operational decision processes in a current business unit eventually develop some processes, methodologies, or models to guide the decision-making process. The Limited Scope to Expanded Scope continuum considers a current product or process modification at one end of the continuum, to a new-to-the-market product with its new process at the other end of the continuum.