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Decision Making Frameworks
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Source:
⁠
Smart Choices
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(book)
⁠
Making Smart Choices: 8 Keys to Making Effective Decisions
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⁠

Framework + prompts from the book

Problem
What triggered this decision? Why am I even considering it?
What constraints am I including in my problem definition? Are they useful or acting as blinders?
What is the scope (sufficient and workable) of the problem?

Objectives
Objective dump
What are all of the concerns you hope to address?
What outcomes would really make you happy?
What are the worst possible outcomes you want to avoid?
Determine fundamental objectives (”I want this for it’s own sake”)
5 why’s for each objective

Alternatives
For each objective ask, “How can I achieve the objectives I’ve set?”
How am I placing assumed constraints on the problem or alternatives?
What are my highest aspirations? What alternatives would help me reach those?

Consequences
Imagine you have chosen an alternative...what is life like now?
What are the consequences of each alternative? In best case...In worst case...
What alternatives are clearly inferior and can be eliminated?

Tradeoffs
What alternatives have disadvantages w/o the advantages enjoyed by other alternatives? (What alternatives are dominated and can be eliminated?)
Even Swap Method (Google to learn more, I haven’t figured out how to simplify this into prompts)

Getting Started: 10 Diagnostic Questions

What’s my decision problem? What, broadly, do I have to decide? What specific decisions do I have to make as a part of the broad decision?
What are my fundamental objectives? Have I asked ‘‘Why’’ enough times to get to my bedrock wants and needs?
What are my alternatives? Can I think of more good ones?
What are the consequences of each alternative in terms of the achievement of each of my objectives? Can any alternatives be safely eliminated?
What are the tradeoffs among my more important objectives? Where do conflicting objectives concern me the most?
Do any uncertainties pose serious problems? If so, which ones? How do they impact consequences?
How much risk am I willing to take? How good and how bad are the various possible consequences? What are ways of reducing my risk?
Have I thought ahead, planning out into the future? Can I reduce my uncertainties by gathering information? What are the potential gains and the costs in time, money, and effort?
Is the decision obvious or pretty clear at this point? What reservations do I have about deciding now? In what ways could the decision be improved by a modest amount of added time and effort?
What should I be working on? If the decision isn’t obvious, what do the critical issues appear to be? What facts and opinions would make my job easier?


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