Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

There is a difference between deciding well and documenting a decision process well. The human condition means that we are mistaken a good portion of the time. Processes and documents can help, but they don’t erase that.

I once worked in a government organization that prided itself on its excellent decisions. They made a few good ones, but being human, they made their share of bad decisions. One thing, however, that they always did was document their decisions well.

They had a process (here we go with the “p” word). They had an elaborate process. Every decision was passed through a series of meetings. At each meeting

• attendance was taken
• options were presented
• trade-offs were discussed
• decisions were made

Note that in the above list of bullets, I used the passive voice. I didn’t assign any action to any particular person. In essence, no person decided – the process decided. And on top of that, everything was documented. Somewhere there was a check list – a long check list – with check marks in every box on every line.

Still, some of the decisions were wrong. Millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money were wasted. And no one was held accountable because everything was done per the process and the documentation was available to prove such.

In one sense, I am fine with this. People make mistakes; people decide incorrectly. As long as no one takes a short cut, as long as no one tries to sneak one through behind my back, I can tolerate the human failings.

In another sense, this is maddening. People in this organization attributed too much power to the process and the document. They actually believed that as long as you went to the required number of meetings and checked all the boxes on the list, the result would be good. The check list would overcome the human condition. Gasp.

We are human; we are mistaken a good portion of the time. Nothing can change that. An extra set of eyeballs can help. Note, help our condition, but not eliminate it.