Category Archives: Decision-Making

Learn about the art and science of the decision.

8 Decision-Making Insights from a Nobel Prize Winner

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A picture of Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman. He is an expert in decision-making.

If you are a decision maker, or aspire to have such a responsibility in your career, this post is for you.

Daniel Kahneman is a winner of a Nobel Prize. He is the author of, Thinking, Fast and Slow, the book where many of these ideas are shared. You can actually read the book for free in PDF here. Much of what dictates today’s decision-making strategies are born out of the ideas of Kahneman himself. If I had to pick one human being in this world to listen to on matters concerning decision-making strategy, Daniel Kahneman is that individual. He has dedicated his life to this and it shows.

So, let’s get into it and supercharge your decision-making abilities!

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Everything You Need To Know To Make Great Decisions

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If you can’t tell yet, we here at Decision.io are firmly against the “gut decision” when the decision is of the complex and critical variety. We’re against it, and we don’t apologize.

These 6 steps of a sound decision-making process will give you everything you need to know about the entire decision-making process. Stop leaving decisions, the cornerstone of success, to chance!

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Gut Decisions – Trust or Bust?

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The gut decision divides decision makers everywhere. Some decision makers swear that their gut can do them no wrong and that pouring over data sets and applying decision models is busy work. Others demand a more rigorous approach to decision making and dismiss gut decisions as a viable strategy altogether.

Who’s right?

Well, it depends. Sometimes, making a quick decision based on your gut is the best approach. Other times, you put yourself at risk by failing to collect and analyze relevant data before making a final decision. So, let’s take a closer look at when you should and shouldn’t trust your gut decision. Continue reading →

8 Decision Making Insights from a Game of Poker

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Using data and logic pays off at the poker table, and we think it will pay off for your organization as well. Whether you are a foundation or non-profit reviewing grant applications, a startup incubator or accelerator reviewing applications from budding entrepreneurs that want access to your programs, or a business making big decisions around strategy and product – making use of as much relevant information as possible within the time available will improve your outcomes over time. It’s important to find a way to implement solutions, software or otherwise, to aid in the management of these submissions, applications, and group decisions. Continue reading →

How We Think About Decisions – the Fast, Slow, and the Lazy

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In the book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow”, author and Nobel Prize laureate Daniel Kahneman identifies two thinking systems we possess called “System 1″ and “System 2″. Each system is responsible for a very different kind of thinking – one system isn’t fundamentally better than the other. The trouble occurs when one system jumps in to do work best left to its buddy system. This happens more than we would like to admit, and so it is critical that we have a basic understanding of these systems, the tricks they can play on one another, and how to limit the negative effects of these tricks.

Lucky for you, that’s what we’re going to cover today!

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Business Intelligence 2.0 – Start Making Better Decisions Today

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In this post, we introduce Business Intelligence 2.0 (BI 2.0). In order to do so, we’ll talk about what business intelligence (BI) is, what the “2.0″ represents, and how BI 2.0 differs from its predecessor. Most importantly, we’ll discuss how BI 2.0 can help your organization to start making better decisions today!

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The Ultimate Decision-Making Mobile Application

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Today’s post is a little different from the others…

We’re officially announcing the Decision.io mobile application that will work on your smartphone and tablet!

It allows the reviewer to carry out all of their main responsibilities such as reviewing online applications, giving overall ratings and/or individual ratings for each piece of decision criteria, and to read and write internal and external comments.

Pretty awesome, eh?

You know what else is awesome? You have access to this right now! So log in, and I’ll take you through the application!

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ABCs of Decision-Making Biases – Part 2

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In Part 1 we looked at some of the biases that introduce themselves when generating potential solutions to be decided on later. There are also a number of decision-making biases that rear their ugly heads when it’s time to evaluate the proposed options and decide. This post will focus on just four of these biases.

So, let’s assume we’ve addressed all of the scary biases in the first stage of the decision making process, we’ve got our potential solutions in front of us bias free (congratulations!), and now it’s time to make the decision.

Not so fast! Let’s work on getting an understanding of some of the decision-making biases that introduce themselves during the all important decision-making stage. For now, let’s dive into four big ones, and we’ll tackle some of the others in future posts.

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ABCs of Decision-Making Biases – Part 1

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Here’s a scary thought: when we are sitting down to make the best decision based on the possibilities presented to us, we are often choosing from possibilities that have already been subjected to biases. We may even introduce a different set of biases when it’s time to actually make a final decision. This tendency isn’t due to a lack of intelligence or skill, but rather to the fact that we’re human. The idiom, “to err is human”, is an idiom for a reason!

Whether we are foundation or grant-maker reviewing online submissions and applications, a startup incubator or accelerator reviewing online applications and interview notes to decide on our next cohort of entrepreneurs, or a business building a strategy in a boardroom, these biases promise to get in our way!

For now, we will focus on just four of many common biases that may be present while generating and collecting possibilities to be decided on later. We’ll discuss the biases that present themselves during the decision making stage in Part 2 of this series.

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Decisions – Why Your Team Needs Help to Make Them

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A rapidly changing decision making landscape

It is no secret that our world is rapidly becoming more complex, fast-paced, and globally connected. As a result of this change, teams are faced with the challenge of making mission critical decisions that involve a wealth of data, the evaluation of a number of viable alternatives, and the consideration of potential risks that may arise in the distant future.  Add the fact that these types of decisions often require a group of people with diverse skill sets to work together, fostering what is known as “collective intelligence”, and the decision-making process becomes increasingly difficult.

This would all be fine if we weren’t so ill-equipped to deal with our modern world and the challenges it presents to our organizations in the context of complex decision making!

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Decisions – the Most Important Thing in the Universe

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The mission

My mission is to add value to your organizations in the context of decision making.

I was brought onto the Decision.io team to focus primarily on inbound marketing. Basically, that’s going out into the digital world that is the internet, adding value where possible, helping organizations solve their problems, and in turn helping Decision.io grow into the world dominating collective decision-making platform it is destined to be. Much of my work requires reading about decision making, sharing other people’s decision-making related content, participating in online discussions about decision making, and of course writing this blog that is heavily focused on decision making and similar topics.

The honest truth

I did not come aboard because decision making was something that oozed out of my pores, resulting in a desire to read and write about it all day, every day.

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