Decision Making Techniques

The techniques in this section help you to make the best decisions possible with the information you have available. With these tools you will be able to map out the likely consequences of decisions, work out the importance of individual factors, and choose the best course of action to take.

Tools we will discuss are:

Selecting the most important changes to make - Pareto Analysis
Evaluating the relative importance of different options - Paired Comparison Analysis
Making a selection when many factors must be taken into account - Grid Analysis
Weighing the pros and cons of a decision- PMI
Analyzing the pressures for and against change - Force Field Analysis
Looking at a decision from all points of view - Six Thinking Hats
Understanding options better by brainstorming questions - Starbursting
Making better group decisions - Stepladder Technique
Seeing whether a change is worth making - Cost/Benefit Analysis
Choosing between options by projecting likely outcomes - Decision Trees

In this section we look at Decision Making tools in two stages. Firstly we will look at a set of good techniques that help you to select between different options, all of which seem promising. If you are suffering from decision paralysis, these tools will get you moving again.

The second set helps you to decide whether a course of action is worth following. These are very useful when you have to take a go/no-go decision. This part finishes by discussing Decision Trees, which are excellent Decision Making tools.

These techniques build on the tools discussed in the section on Problem Solving Tools, in that Decision Making follows on from an understanding of the situation. The section on Creativity Tools will help you to explore what alternatives that are open to you.

Do remember, though, that the tools in this chapter exist only to assist your intelligence and common sense. These are your most important assets in good Decision Making.

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Keywords:

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