The art of decision making

Guy “A” sees a girl, falls in love instantaneously, and proposes her with no hesitation. The poor lady accepts his wish .They get married in a week, followed by divorce in a year. Guy “B” is on a serious hunt for girls, for the last 3 years .He keeps rejecting each girl for a gamut of reasons, obviously his marriage is getting delayed. Looking at this case from 10000 feet, you could beckon this as fate! Examining the case closer, I would say,”A “made a decision without any rationale while “B” expected infinity parameters, without Trade off. In my case it self, I have taken 2 months to decide what bike I would need and 2 weeks for deciding a DVD Player.Corrobarating all these experiences, I felt it is the decision making that needs a scientific approach to dispose incorrectness to bins. Although, the key decision making situations warrants a detailed step by step approach ,for every simple instances, say as to buy a right newspaper the fore coming methodology should not be used. Take decisions through brain and do not attach any emotion towards heart as this might pull you into oscillations after taking a correct decision.Let’s get into step by step approach

1. Identify the need from Pain Area

Assuming you are spending 20% of your daily time (Average of 5Hrs) in commuting to and from Office. The Pain area is that your time is getting drained and the need is to reduce travelling time. In our next case, assume you wash cloths manually every week end and feel tired after the wash! The pain area is you getting tired and the need is something/some one should wash your cloths. Assuming your supervisor always rebukes you in spite of your magnificent work. The pain area is your uncomfortable sense with supervisor and the need is to change the reporting structure .Now, you might ask me what if this step is missed out. Let’s take an Example. One of my friends was staying out side the city and as he continued eating outside, he developed a sort of indigestion problems. So instead of solving the food problem, he had invited a new problem ending up in a Marriage sheerly for taking home food. The gist is unless there is a pain, you will not even need it, and if there is a pain try to assess the need out of it rather than inviting a new problem or getting perplexed with newer choices.

2. Try a Smarter way before opting new Choices

For the commutation pain ,you can travel bit early avoiding traffic that could save you some time ,or opt for train journey instead of directly deciding to purchase a car .For the next case, you can outsource your cloths to dhobiwala ,calculate Cost benefit analysis before opting a washing machine . For the Supervisor issue ,you should skip one level to escalate it to manager ,rather than moving into an another organization .On to my friend’s indigestion issue, it would have been better if he had deployed a servant to cook food at home or try self cooking .It is unjustifiable to get married just because you need home food. The gist is always trying a smarter way to solve the need before getting something new. If you don’t get your pain area addressed then get geared up for the new One!

3. Identify the additional parameters in the Market

Lets take a DVD Players in the Market . Gone are the days when DVD players were just meant for CD or DVD playback. Nowadays a lot of these come with USB Support, FM Players, multi disc playback ….You should know what is a Coaxial Output and how different it is from optical Counterpart. Feel the beat of Dolby and DTS before you pick a dear one ! When you planned for DVD player, you would have never thought about these features, but emerging trends and additional parameters be never voided.

4. Brainstorm on Parameters Vs Alternatives

Lets assume, Your pain area badly demanded a bike and with Market study, you studied few handy and trendy parameters as well like felt rider comfort ,automatic gear shift ,Electric start ,Oil Cooled Engine ,additional luggage space …..Choose the bikes that offer these features like Avenger, Jive, Activa and others.

5. Append Emotional Category (if any)

I prefer a tension free ride with automatic gear l when riding in city and hence I include this parameter to see I do not miss out any parameter.

6. Identify the critical parameter ,amongst parameters

Let’s say at any cost , I wouldn’t want to compromise on Rider Comfort and mileage ,as I travel a lot outside the city limits ,although I am ready to bear with huge initial cost and ready to forgo my emotional category. Mark these parameters that which cannot be compromised as Critical Parameters.

7. Rank Alternatives using Pugh Matrix

Knock off those alternatives where CTQ’s are not met. Choose those bikes that offer these benefits, say Avenger and Enfield alone fit the bill. To choose between these two make use of additional parameters ‘initial cost’. So Avenger would finally win the race .An another example- while looking for a bride if your CTQ is Sweet voice and beautiful face , if fortunately you have 6 brides in the race, never compromise for the critical parameters, you opted. You can still manage with a shorter, curly haired, chocolate complexion, Arts college bride hailing from a middle class as long as you see Taj mahal in her face and feel like drinking a spoon of honey when she speaks.

8. Expert review who aids your decision parameter

You have decided to buy a Samsung Washing Machine for it’s higher capacity and lesser cost. Let’ s seek an expert’s review .Reason being ,you would have missed out “Liquid bleech “ utility ,which would be pointed out by a person who uses a Washing Machine for a reasonable period. In case if you feel that parameter is critical, redo the exercise from step 4.

I tried the above steps and I was really Successful while looking for a house in Chennai .Hope You reap better benefits by following the above procedure !