Making a decision

Making a decision

Listen to a meeting in which colleagues make a decision to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

Jani: Thanks for coming, everyone. So, we're here today to define the timeline for our new project.

Emiko: Yes, Jani, that's a great idea.

Carolina: OK. What do you need from us?

Emiko: Hold on a moment. I think we need to decide between us what to do, to make sure it works for all departments.

Jani: Yes, exactly, don't worry. We're going to discuss this and make a decision together. Let's first think about the scheduling of each project phase. What do you think, Emiko?

David: Can I interrupt? I think we should first be clear about the process we'll use to make the decision. How are we going to do it?

Jani: Ah, yes. Good point. Well, I think the best way is for each of you to give your opinion and then we can discuss and make a decision.

David: OK. That sounds good.

Emiko: Yes, that works for me too. I know we're still planning the structure of the later phases of the project, but I think we should begin phase one as soon as possible. We can work out the rest later, as we go along.

David: I'm sorry, I don't think so. How can we start phase one if we're not fully clear on where the rest of the project will take us? We might make a wrong decision and waste time.

Jani: I agree with you on that point, David. However, we'll waste too much time if we wait until everything is planned before we actually start working on the project. I think we should take an agile approach.

David: Agile approach?

Jani: Well, it means that we start quickly and then adapt as we go along.

Emiko: That's right.

Jani: Carolina, you've been very quiet.

Carolina: Um … I'm sorry. I didn't want to interrupt. I'm listening … and thinking.

David: Do you agree we should get the plan right first, and then start with phase one?

Carolina: I'm sorry, David. I don't think I agree with you. It's important to have a good plan. But plans can change, even the good ones – and business changes often. We need to be flexible, and we also need to move quickly.

Jani: OK. So should we take a vote?

Emiko: Well, you're the project leader. Let's go with your decision.

Carolina: Yes, I'll follow your lead, Jani.

David: Well, I guess that's decided then. We'll follow your agile approach, Jani. Start quickly and keep planning the later stages of the project.

Jani: Yes, that's right.

David: I still don't think this is the right decision, but I'm happy to go with the majority. We should add some space into the schedule later for additional work this 'flexibility' will need.

Jani: Don't worry, David, we will. OK, so it's decided then. We'll start phase one as soon as possible, and in the background we'll continue planning the later phases and adapt them as we go along.

Discussion

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Submitted by Dhivya Mahendran on Tue, 30/04/2019 - 08:25

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I made decisions usually in the working place through the structured way & discussed with my team members.

Submitted by Eman Omar on Thu, 11/04/2019 - 17:05

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Hi! I have a problem in task 2 when I should match more than option to one group I can only add one answer! What should I do?
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Submitted by Kirk Moore on Fri, 12/04/2019 - 06:29

In reply to by Eman Omar

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Hello Eman Omar What you have to do is always move the words by clicking or pressing on the small white hands in the top right corner of the word boxes. For example, if you already moved 'I agree with you on that point' into the 'Agreeing' box and you want to move 'That's right' to the box, you must click on the small hand in the top corner of the 'That's right' box and then you must click on the small hand in the top corner of the 'I agree with you on that point' box. Then it should move there. It sounds difficult but is quite easy once you see how it works. Please let us know if you have any more trouble with this, and sorry for the inconvenience! All the best Kirk The LearnEnglish Team