Why Should You Use Insight Tree?

Why Should You Use Insight Tree?

Making decisions is for most of us a common thing. We do it several times a day. Decisions for ourselves, for people who depend on us and for people who authorized us to do it. But why can decision making be so difficult, time-consuming and unsettling? Let's look at some of the reasons that make decisions problematic in business and private life.

The Easy Type1 Decisions

Sometimes, decision making is a simple thing.

It is like walking along some very old city streets. You may take a turn to the left, then go right again and so on. No problem if you take the wrong way, just use another road or turn around to get back to your original direction. This type of decision is easy to correct when you made a mistake.

You do not need Insight Tree for this type of decision. Just make them, watch results and adjust them when needed.

Unfortunately, these Type1 decisions are rare in management. Most management decisions are of the second type.

The Tough Type2 Decisions

There are other moments, when decision making can be very hard. These decisions are more like turnouts on a railway track. You have to make the decision in time, before the opportunity vanishes, but you should not take the wrong way.

You can not just go back when you took the wrong direction. You will have to follow it before you get a chance to take another turnout and get back on the right track. The additional costs, time and possibly troubles with your boss and other stakeholders may be extreme.

Use Insight Tree to make a well analyzed and considered decision at the right right time. The one decision with maximum payoff, which you will not have to regret later.

Hidden Agendas

The decision you have to make may have a value for others. So be prepared for people who are trying to cheat you.

Sometimes they are easy to identify, like the thimblerig in the photo (left). Everyone should know that this is a quick con, but nevertheless, the shell game players still find their victims, even though they are illegal in many countries.

How much harder are cheaters to identify, when you meet them in business life. The more budget you have to administer, the more likely it is that you will face the challenge of avoiding fraud.

Use Insight Tree to weigh up the risk of getting cheated against the potential loss when you distrust good people.

Accountability

Can you justify your decisions and defend your decision making process when this is required from you? Can you prove that you manage your project or your operations in the interests of your customer and sponsor and not your own ones?

Can you verify your integrity?

Insight tree gives you a unique opportunity of documenting convincingly that you made your decisions in a clear, objective and facts-based fashion.

Group Decisions

Decisions made by teams can be especially difficult.

They can suffer from a lack of respect and trust between members of the group. Or of too much respect, a group may then travel to Abilene - make a decision which is actually not supported by any of the participants.

Finding joint decisions can be so time-consuming. In other occasions, they made too hasty and inconsiderate.

Big Egos may also make it difficult to find good group decisions. How do you convince a meeting attendee who just says "It is me who wants that" instead of going towards a joint decision?

Our proposal: Spend some time in advance of the meeting to develop the skills necessary to master the software in front of others. It is not that difficult. Make sure that you can make your point and impress others.

Then, use Insight Tree to ensure that team decisions are made in a fast but thoughtful manner.

Delayed Decisions

Can you afford delays in your decision making process?

Feedback from users shows: Insight Tree helps speeding up the decision making process by 25% to 50%. Clear establishment of the various decision options, description of risks linked with these decisions, and documented responsibilities and deadlines for sequences of decisions make it easier to solicit timely decisions.

The Decision Process

Of course, the payoff perspective is very important, but not sufficient.

Around 1990, Robert S. Kaplan and David Norton developed their famous model of the Balanced Score Cards: Keep track of the flow of your decisions and their outcomes and evaluate them always from at least 4 angles:

1.		Financial perspective Includes traditional metrics for monetary success. This is the area where Insight Tree can help you most.
2.		Business process perspective Includes lead times, productivity, search times, process deadlocks and attainment of process objectives. Use good process flow modeling tools to understand the consequences of your decisions on your business processes and apply the Deming Cycle (Plan - Do - Check - Act) to develop them step by step.
3.		Customer perspective How will your clients perceive your decisions and their outcomes? You need to know your market very well to predict this perception.
4.		Learning and growth perspective Assets generated from new ideas and organizational learning. To win the future you must organize your learning process today. There is still a lot to learn in the business you are in today, but you should also be open for new ideas which will lead you and yoour organization into the future.

Decisions are only balanced out, if all four angles are considered. If you miss one angle, your decisions will not be successful.

Insight Tree is the tool to help you for the financial perspective. But don't forget the other ones! Not every outcome of your decisions is easily quantifyable.