Conduct Product Decision Analysis & Resolution

(Activity) for Tier: Product

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PURPOSE

The Decision Analysis and Resolution (DAR) process is a formal method for evaluating decision alternatives to key business issues through the application of established criteria and evaluation methods to determine a logical best choice. This ensures a controlled objective decision process, and creates a historical record of the team’s rationale throughout the decision-making process.

WHEN

The DAR process activity is performed on an as-needed basis only when the conditions of the entry criteria given have been met.

PARTICIPATING ROLES

INPUTS

  • Team defined DAR procedure including the repository location and artifact type(s). This may include Azure DevOps (ADO) site folders, Wiki, OneNote
  • Optional: Output from a team lightweight architecture alternative assessment method (LAAAM ) analysis.
  • Optional: ADO work items including risks and/or issues
  • Optional: Written instructions from Executive Management requesting a DAR analysis

ENTRY CRITERIA

  • This process applies when any one of the following DAR triggers occur.

    • The team has proposed a purchase decision that is an expense to the company, and is in excess of the DCAA minimum threshold, $2500. This will typically be associated with a buy decision resulting from a LAAAM analysis with a purchase recommendation.
    • The team faces an issue or risk that must be mitigated to avoid an over or under execution of the planned budget within company standard tolerance, +/- 7%.
    • The team faces an issue or risk that must be mitigated to avoid a schedule delay which would result in either an aborted sprint cycle, or a missed production release milestone.
    • The team is directed by Executive Management to address a specific issue and document their decision and analysis process.

SUB-ACTIVITIES

  1. Establish Decision Authority and Stakeholders

    • From among the Accountable and Responsible roles, decide and document who will assume the ultimate decision authority. This may vary according to the specifics of the DAR trigger. Ensure your decision criteria reflect the viewpoint that the team considers most important among the following:

    • Document other team members who will be included in the decision process, and what role they will play.

    • Identify any external (non-contributing) stakeholders and document any communication needed.

  2. Establish Decision Criteria

    • Define and document the team’s End-in-Mind statement for the desired outcome. In a short statement, describe what is the most important thing to achieve as a result of this analysis. This should align with your decision authority, and provide a mental compass in establishing selection criteria and weighting

    • Discuss select and document decision criteria. A minimum of 3 criteria is required, and as a rule, more than 6 or 7 becomes difficult to manage. Common examples include:

      • Cost
      • Customer Sentiment
      • Domain Knowledge
      • Efficiency
      • Feasibility
      • Licensing
      • Maintenance
      • Operational Support
      • Portability
      • Reliability
      • Reusability
      • Risk
      • Scalability
      • Schedule
      • Security
      • Training Requirements

    • Weight your criteria in order of importance. Assign each a unique value with the most important having the highest number, and the least with the lowest number. The scale can be adjusted to drive differentiation if needed but each number must be unique.

  3. Identify Alternatives

    • Research, brainstorm, and discuss possible alternative solutions. Include any relevant assumptions and/or evaluation techniques the team deems important enough to document for future reference. A minimum of 2 alternatives is required, and as a rule, more than 4 or 5 alternatives becomes difficult to manage.
    • List the alternatives with a brief description.
    • Discard any alternatives that are simply unrealistic.
    • Consider any potential hybrid/merge solutions

  4. Evaluate Alternatives

    • Create a decision matrix.

      • Enter your evaluation criteria and weighting in the first two columns sorted by weighting in descending order.
      • Use the remaining columns to identify your solution alternatives.

    • Rate alternatives against criteria.

      • Define a numeric scale to describe how well each alternative conforms to the evaluation criteria. Example: High, Medium, Low may be represented as 3, 2, 1. Unlike decision criteria, these values may be repeated many times. The scale may also be adjusted to drive differentiation but be careful not to introduce a bias.
      • Moving column by column assess how each alternative meets each evaluation criteria. Multiply that number by the weighting for that row and enter the value in the cell.
      • Total the value for all weighted cells at the bottom of the column for each alternative. The alternative with the highest aggregate total is the preferred option.

    Note

    You can also add additional columns if you wish to show both raw and computed scores.

  5. Finalize

    • Get commitment/consensus from team in accordance with your team norms. Include decisions and objections in your notes.
    • IMPORTANT: Ensure your notes include a concise summary of the team’s decision rationale sufficient for a casual observer to readily understand the final decision at a future time.
    • Capture action items and create ADO work items as necessary
    • Create purchase requests in purchasing system if applicable
    • Address changes to the team’s DAR procedure if needed
    • Communicate out to external stakeholders identified in “Establish Decision Authority and Stakeholders.”

OUTPUTS

  • Artifacts documenting execution of the DAR process are contained in the team’s repository per their defined procedure.
  • Optional: ADO backlog updated with work items necessary to implement the DAR results
  • Optional: Purchase Request is entered into purchasing system

EXIT CRITERIA

The team has achieved a commitment/consensus to the solution that best addresses the optimal outcome for the particular issue/topic and can articulate and support that decision. The process has generated a sufficient body of knowledge that the entire decision process can be easily understood by a casual 3rd party observer.

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SEE ALSO

Process Guidance Version: 10.4