How many Decision Analyst does Chevron really need? Seems we have an overabundance !
17 replies (most recent on top)
True what you say, @5mlv. Chevron made money in spite of itself. It took the bottom to fall out of oil prices to expose the inherent weaknesses Chevron had all along. Good point.
Chevron has built layers of pawns (decision analysts) to protect the inner circle of corrupt managers. Very rarely does a PSG 27 and above take the fall for bad decisions like Big Foot, Gorgon, Wheatstone, and the Marcellus Shale sh-- shows.
If Chevron did well a few years ago, it is all because of the high oil prices we had, it has nothing to do with the decisions that were taken, and no thanks to the DAs. As soon as the price collapsed, all the inherent weaknesses in Chevron were exposed.
3arc has a keen point. Exxon is way ahead of Chevron in Decision Analysis. They also continually validate project hurdles from phase 1 to execution and shut them down as soon as they know it's a dog. Not Chevron.
Chevron Uses CPDEP as a CYA for the friends and family managers to keep their jobs for generations
Exxon doesn't waste its money on DAs. They are a lot quicker with their decisions, either moving forward or canning a project. Certainly seems to be doing a lot better. Chevron should shamelessly copy their model. Chevron process nothing more than humbug.
@2vpk, you talk about CPDEP? What a joke. This process is so misused at Chevron. I've seen "shoot-from-the-hip" managers go from Phase 2 or 3, straight to 5 just because the whole process was dragging on to get a project started. CPDEP is another process that needs to be canned.
@2icp, do you even Phase 5 CPDEP, bro?
Lol. I'm sure there are some Chevron DA's who would insist trying to wipe sideways instead of up and down or back and forth. Sounds like a messy task.
Why does Chevron need an analyst to examine why a decision has been made? Sounds like an afterthought once the decision is made. All DA's need to be canned.
Chevron is just overdoing this Decision Analyst thing. For the most part these are Excel jocks perpetuating an Analysis by Paralysis culture.
Decision analysts don't make decisions. And people with DOA can't possibly build the models that incorporate probabilistic outcomes of subsurface, escalation, oil price, etc.
Fire all the DA's and let the person with Delegation of Authority over whatever it is (a project, a workgroup, or the whole organization) be the Decision Analyst. That person with DOA is well paid and better be well qualified for his/her job. Put the responsibility on them to make the right decisions. Too many wrong decisions are they will get replaced. Simple as that.
Processes don't make decisions. Full information is the goal but imperfect information is the reality. People make decisions and leaders make decisions that have real impact. Chevron has created a culture of processes to fill the hole created by so much experience retiring or nearing retirement. Decision analysts will never replace seasoned deciscion-makers. If we are going to rely on processes, then create a damn process that develops seasoned decision-makers not seasoned analysts that analyze to the n-th degree and can't operate at the real pace of the marketplace. When the price environment improves, many of us will be leaving for greener pastures with smaller, more nimble entities that have people who still know how to make a damn decision, creating an even bigger problem for Chevron. We have seen the enemy and the enemy is us.
Hand so many who are not qualified and will never be qualified! Who thought it was such a great idea to have so many? A
Decision Analysts = Paralysis by Analysis. Can you believe the enormous waste of money Chevron spends each year on hundreds and hundreds of so many useless jobs? Across every business unit worldwide, we have so many people in jobs that don't add real value.
We have so many of them yet we struggle making sound timely decisions.