Decision-making framework methodology: an original approach to project risk management in new product design

Abstract

There are many different techniques in use today for the identification and evaluation of risks in new product design projects. Once identified, we need to ensure that we treat those risks in an effective manner. This process leads the project manager and his/her team into complex decision-making problems. Decisions to take a risk, reduce the level of risk or to eliminate those risks altogether are left to the project manager’s judgement. Given the stakes involved in today’s projects, such intuitive measures, based solely on experience, are no longer sufficient. In response to these problems and given the non-repetitive and complex nature of new product design projects, we modelled the decision-making process in design in accordance with systemic theories. According to Herbert Simon and his followers, we modelled the way in which the designers use their reasoning and data processing capacities to make decisions. These models, associated with real case studies, carried out on action-research principles enabled us to build a method that amplifies our cognitive capacities and allows us to act on the decision-making processes in design. The method involves the construction of a decision-making framework allowing the construction of a robust project satisfying both the project objectives and the team. It is complementary to risk identification methods because it facilitates the decision-making process, in particular decisions related to identified risks, which allows continuous project improvement.