Decision making is at the heart of managing. It is the retraceable expression of the process of organizing. Good decisions produce good outcomes for both the organization and the manager, and careers may be made or broken by a single decision. This book is a guide, designed for engineering managers, to the theory and practice of how good decisions are made and why poor decisions occur.

Infrastructure provision remains the definitive measure of development around the world, yet engineers often only get involved in the creation of infrastructure after the important planning decisions have already been made. This is an introduction to the principles and procedures necessary for infrastructure planning in rapidly developing regions. It covers the technical methods required in planning for infrastructure provision from base-line studies and problem definition through to the specification for a set of projects. The book also discusses the political factors that affect the decision making process and demonstrates, through case studies, how the technical and political perspectives come together in the finished plan.