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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
• Selecting between good options - Grid Analysis
• Choosing between options by projecting likely outcomes - Decision Trees
• 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
• Seeing whether a change is worth making - Cost/Benefit Analysis

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. 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. 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 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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In the first article, we look at Pareto Analysis, an important technique for identifying the most important changes to make when many demands are clamoring for our attention. To read this, click "Next article" below. Other relevant destinations are shown in the "Where to go from here" list underneath.

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New Articles (Not included in the Mind Tools E-book.)
* Shows articles available in full only to Career Excellence Club Premium members

Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) - Choosing by weighing up many subjective factors
Reactive Decision Making - Making good decisions under pressure*
Spiral Dynamics - Understanding how people's values affect decision making*
Critical Thinking - Developing the skills for successful thinking*
The Ladder of Inference - Avoiding "jumping to conclusions"*
Blindspot Analysis - Avoiding common "fatal flaws" in decision making*
Multi-Voting - Choosing fairly between many options*
Monte Carlo Analysis - Bringing uncertainty and risk into forecasting*
The Kepner-Tregoe Matrix - Making unbiased, risk assessed decisions*
Impact Analysis - Identifying the "unexpected" consequences of a decision*
Avoiding Groupthink - Avoiding fatal flaws in group decision making*
The Delphi Technique - Achieving well thought through consensus among experts*
Nominal Group Technique - Prioritizing issues and projects to achieve consensus*
Stepladder Technique - Making better group decisions
Decision Making - Are you "cautious" or "courageous"? *
The Vroom-Yetton-Jago Decision Model - Deciding how to decide*

A full list of Mind Tools articles is available here.

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