During the reporting in our Project Management subject, each of the group tackled about the expert judgment. What is expert judgment all about? So for me, when I heard the word expert judgment one thing that comes into my mind is that expert judgment is that in order for the project team to understand deeply their project they would find an expertise to know that such particular problem. But according to the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK), expert judgment is often used to assess the inputs needed to develop the project charter. Such judgment and expertise is applied to any technical and management details during this process. Such expertise is provided by any group or an individual with specialized knowledge or training and is available from any sources, including the other units within the organization, consultants, and the stakeholders including customers or sponsors, professional and technical associations and the industry groups.
In order for me to understand deeply the word expert judgment, I researched it through the internet and as what I have read in the site www.my-project-management-expert.com it stated that Expert Judgment is a widely used tools and techniques in almost all major process in the PMBOK from initiating till closing of the project or its phase. In some of the processes it is the one and only technique mentioned. When we say expert, expert are those individuals or a group who possess specialized knowledge or training in a particular area. In project management, experts are either part of the project such as the project manager or involved such as the stake holders in the project processes. Project teams with a project manager and team members with relevant experience in the project related subject can perform the project with more success probability than those are not. In other than the project team, generally there are also available experts like project consultants, the user groups, and the subject matter experts. In judgment,judgment provided by those people with expertise in an appropriate project area is utilized at various stages of the project phase in order to do an effective project management.
According to a blog entitled “IT Project Management”, there are four sources of expert judgment available in order to help on a project. First are the CONSULTANTS – the consultants can be hired from outside of the company to serve as an expert for a project. But however, this kind of sources is expensive and cause too much cost to rise on a project. For an example, a company that is specialized in a natural gas may be hired a consultant on a pipeline project. Second are the specialized and technical associations – the specialized and technical groups can provide an expert judgment when the information needed is very detailed or technical. For an example, if you need to know what the building code is for a residential home, you could ask the local builders association. Third are the manufacturing groups – the manufacturing groups can offer general information for the project. For an example, if you need to know how long it takes for a cement to cure, a construction group would be able to answer on your question. Lastly are theother units or other departments inside the organizations – preferably, this is the best place to obtain expert judgment and it can obtained at no cost to the project team.
After determining which experts or groups of experts can help you during on the different project phase on a project, you can use tools and techniques to obtain the expert judgment that you need. So first, the interviews: An interview can be on a one-on-one or a many-to-one basis. We already know that an interview is conducted by asking a series of question that will increase your knowledge of the project or in a particular project activity. Next is the brainstorming: brainstorming works by getting a group to focus on a problem and then coming up with as many solutions as possible. And once the session has resulted into a number of solutions, and then the results can be analyzed. Lastly, the past data: past data uses as the knowledge which is gained on a similar past project activity to obtain duration estimates for each of the activity associated with a current project. While a certain technique might be appropriate in some situations, in others the same technique wouldn't give you the information you need. Interviews are best used when knowledgeable, experienced people are available at an affordable cost and specific information is needed, while brainstorming is best used when input for multiple experts needed or when experienced people aren’t available. Past data is best used when records are accurate and both projects are similar.
When using an expert judgment in a project there are also advantages and disadvantages of it. There are many advantages when using the expert judgment technique for estimating activity duration. The advantages of it are: it allows for different perception, it makes valuable use of prior knowledge and experience, it can help you find creative solutions, and it helps you avoid re-inventing the wheel. Expert judgment, like so many things has also disadvantages. You have to be careful when using an expert judgment, it’s because it can be time consuming. It can also tie up experienced team for many hours, to the failure of other projects. In addition, expert judgment can be costly if you have to go outside of your company to hire an expert. Another disadvantage is that experts may be likely to downplay the fact that an activity took longer than the expected on past projects. When using an expert judgment, used it wisely though expert judgment is a great and very useful tool for estimating activity duration. It allows for different perspective and more creative solutions. And the most importantly, when using expert judgment, your team will be less likely to re-invent the wheel.
The interviews, the brainstorming and the past data for me are the best and useful tool that is used in expert judgment.
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