After I got out of the Marines, I began working on my college degree. At the same time, I was starting out in my career. That made for some truly surreal experiences.
The professors and textbooks painted one picture. Real life was often very different. Decision making was an area with some of the most dramatic differences.
In the world of the textbooks, decision making was a straightforward, linear process. You started with the facts to define the problem. Next, you generated some possible solutions. You picked the best one and it was implemented.
That wasn’t anything like my experience. Here’s what things looked like from my real world view, along with some thoughts that will improve your decision making.
Most of the time you start with opinions, not facts. Some of those opinions are about how the problem should be solved. Others are about who caused the problem.
To get to a less-opinionated description and start moving toward a solution, you need a common way to describe the situation. I suggest asking everyone for their story of the problem.
As you gather different stories write them down. Mark key events on a timeline. This gives you something that everyone can agree on as a starting point. It helps determine what facts you need to gather.
The textbooks instructed us to “generate some solutions and pick the best one.” In my world, things didn’t work well that way. There were three things I learned on the job.
Coming up with solutions is not a simple, straight-line process. More often, an idea caused us to go back and look at our assumptions and data.
The first workable solution is usually not the best solution, but many groups stop there. I learned to push for a second and third solution.
Groupthink is alive and well. Bring in new blood. Once a group has developed a solution, they all own it and they usually don’t see it clearly. Time to bring in another team to challenge the solution the first group has devised.
At this point it’s usually best to quick talking and set up a live trial or two. No plan I’ve ever seen was as good as a live trial. The live trials can actually be the first steps in implementation.
In the textbooks, implementation was nice and simple. In my real world, it was where the fun began.
I learned that implementation was really part of decision making. When that happens decisions get modified based on how they work. In other words, the solutions get better.
Decision making, like most human processes is messy and iterative. You can ignore that and believe in straight lines, simple processes, and the perfectibility of plans. Or you can embrace it and make better decisions.
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