Decision management is an overly formal-sounding title for an essential set of skills and processes needed by every project manager on a nontrivial effort. Project managers must be thoughtful about decisions. This doesn’t necessarily require an additional process, but it might involve a more rigorous application of the processes currently in place.

In the same way that math is a learned skill, project management is a learned skill. You can get better with practice, instruction, and mentoring. Avoid being surprised by the new job requirements, acknowledge it is a new role for you, and seek a mentor to help you navigate.

Like quality management a decade ago, project risk management has become such a “check-the-box” exercise in some organizations that vocal critics are clamoring for its elimination as pointless overhead. In this article, Payson Hall suggests that you consider a grown-up conversation with the leaders in your organization about the capabilities and limitations of your risk management efforts.

Capital projects inherently involve integrating the work of numerous subcontractors for the on-time delivery of hundreds of facility systems and millions of project deliverables. If your company is involved in any of the lifecycle stages of a process facility, this article will help you learn some of the current pitfalls.