PRIORITIZING PROJECTS AT D. D. WILLIAMSON Essay - 1

PRIORITIZING PROJECTS AT D. D. WILLIAMSON - Essay Example As a means of understanding Williamson’s model, the core components of his prioritization will be understood as: 1) establishing the criteria for prioritizing, 2) weighting the criteria, 3) refining the project lists as a result of steps one and two 4)developing shareholder buy in based upon the results that the weighting has generated. Due to the fact that such a complex layer of decision must be made on a daily basis with regards to prioritization, it is D. D. Williamson’s belief that such a process itself should not be left to a type of change (Segal 1999). Rather, to define, categorize, and formalize the approach to how work tasks are completed is something that should be both transparent and a bit formulaic; so as to reduce the overall level of shareholder biases that could possibly be reflected within the process. Although this process and formulization of the project and workflow management process is visionary, it does represent some key shortcomings as well as some key strengths that will herein be discussed. Firstly, with reference to the way that these steps provide for an improvement within traditional project prioritization, the reader can quickly infer that the means by which such an approach are actually realied far exceed the ways that leaders and management typically venture into prioritizing work flow. Due to the fact that humans are of course innately self interested and seeking to maximize their own utility at each and every step, it is more often the case than not that work flow is organized and prioritized based upon what leadership sees as the best means to promote a given agenda or project. In this way, providing a level of formulization such as what D. D. Williamson has done helps to keep the process on track and as little influenced by shareholder bias as possible. Although there still exists a high level of bias that could come