Useful heuristics

Decision-making is one of the core tasks in project management. Traditionally, optimization methods have been developed to support managers in finding the best solutions. Alternatively, decisions can be based on simple rules of thumb, or heuristics. Even though simple heuristics only require little in the way of time and information, they have been shown to outperform optimization methods in complex decision tasks across a wide range of situations. This chapter outlines relevant decision heuristics commonly used, demonstrates situations in which they outperform more complex decision algorithms and explains why and when simple heuristics provide powerful decision tools