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Originally Posted by MJMurphy
Is it important to try to improve the decision making process?
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That depends on how good the processes currently are and what the costs are of moving closer to "perfection". How would you characterise a "good" decision? Actual outcomes may be better with a clear and timely, but otherwise sub-optimal, decision. And it's the outcomes we're interested in, isn't it?
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Originally Posted by MJMurphy
Will better decisions mean better requirements?
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Better decisions about requirements will mean better requirements, whatever that may mean. Sounds true by definition! Better processes cannot mean that every decision will be better, just that all the decisions considered as a whole are better (otherwise, it wasn't a "better process" after all).
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Originally Posted by MJMurphy
Having a well defined decision making process implies that things will go smoothly
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No, it doesn't. Only a poorly defined process would be founded on such an obviously erroneous assumption! Perhaps you are confusing clarity or aesthetics with effectiveness?
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Originally Posted by MJMurphy
Is it a mistake to try to impose order?
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It could well be. A wholly chaotic process is almost certainly sub-optimal, but so too is an inflexible, invariant process. As with any other process, you have to try to understand its strengths and weaknesses, relative to its purpose, before you seek to improve it.
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Originally Posted by MJMurphy
Should we just get people in a room and let them work it out?
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That's one process that has stood the test of time. But strictly it is only a process step. Which people? At what stage? With what preparation? Producing decisions or recommendations? Communicated to whom? How? When? To what ends?