What are some effective tools or methods for comparing alternatives?

Decision making is a skill that involves choosing the best option among several alternatives, based on certain criteria and goals. However, sometimes it can be challenging to compare different alternatives and weigh their pros and cons. In this article, you will learn some effective tools and methods for evaluating alternatives and criteria for decision making, and how to apply them in various situations.

1 Define your decision problem

The first step in evaluating alternatives and criteria is to clearly define your decision problem. What are you trying to achieve? What are the constraints and assumptions? What are the relevant factors and stakeholders? By defining your decision problem, you can narrow down your scope and focus on the most important aspects of your decision.

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Mohammad Wahba

P3 delivery | Rail & Transit | heavy civil delivery | construction law | Resolving disputes
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During my career I have seen people stuck trying to find decisions and solution for the wrong problem or non-existent one. Ask your self the some of the following questions: 1- what is causing the pain? 2-what is stopping the progress? 3-what root cause of what I have? Then it is the time to decide on the best solution.

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2 Identify your alternatives

The next step is to identify your alternatives. These are the possible solutions or courses of action that you can choose from. Depending on your decision problem, you may have a few or many alternatives. You can use brainstorming, research, or other methods to generate and list your alternatives. Try to be creative and include as many options as possible, without filtering or judging them at this stage.

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3 Establish your criteria

The third step is to establish your criteria. These are the standards or measures that you will use to evaluate your alternatives. Your criteria should reflect your goals, values, and preferences, as well as the requirements and expectations of your decision problem. You can use different types of criteria, such as quantitative (e.g., cost, time, quality) or qualitative (e.g., satisfaction, impact, feasibility). You can also assign weights or priorities to your criteria, depending on their importance.

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Gurdane Singh Bhutani

Investing in Environment + Health at MBX Capital
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You might find that there are uncertainties associated with your set of potential decisions. If that's the case, assigning probabilities of success to each potential alternative can be a helpful strategy. The probabilities assigned will almost always be educated guesses and inexact, but the exercise of thinking through various likelihoods can be very illuminating.

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4 Evaluate your alternatives

The fourth step is to evaluate your alternatives. This involves comparing and ranking them based on how well they meet your criteria. You can use different tools or methods for this, such as pros and cons analysis, matrix analysis, or decision tree analysis. Pros and cons analysis is a simple and intuitive method that involves listing the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative and comparing them based on their overall value or impact. Matrix analysis is a more structured and systematic method that involves creating a table or matrix, where you score each alternative against each criterion and multiply the scores by the weights. Decision tree analysis is a more complex and visual method that involves drawing a diagram or tree, where you represent each alternative as a branch and each possible outcome or consequence as a sub-branch. Then, you assign probabilities and values to each outcome and calculate the expected value or utility of each alternative.

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5 Choose your best alternative

The final step is to choose your best alternative. This is where you make your decision, based on the results of your evaluation. You should choose the alternative that has the highest score, value, or utility, and that best satisfies your criteria and goals. However, you should also consider other factors, such as your intuition, emotions, or ethical principles, that may influence your decision. You should also be aware of potential biases, such as confirmation bias, anchoring bias, or availability bias, that may affect your judgment.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Panagiotis Kyrou

Change management | Innovation | Impact | Leadership
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When you are solving a problem, it is always about system thinking. How you map it, how you analyze it, and how you are going to affect it. Your problem is just your start. Then as you say criteria and requirements there is where Empathy should kick in. Understand the needs and the best ways to keep your system in motion for the problem you are solving. Last but not least, even when you choose you should monitor your choice and re-evaluate the system and your problem.

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What are some effective tools or methods for comparing alternatives?

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2

3

4

5

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1 Define your decision problem

2 Identify your alternatives

3 Establish your criteria

4 Evaluate your alternatives

5 Choose your best alternative

6 Here’s what else to consider

Decision-Making

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What are some effective tools or methods for comparing alternatives?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Define your decision problem

2 Identify your alternatives

3 Establish your criteria

4 Evaluate your alternatives

5 Choose your best alternative

6 Here’s what else to consider

Decision-Making

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