Make Money - Share Your Expertise on DecisionPlanner

Do you want to make money by helping others make important decisions? Do you want to grow your business by sharing expertise to help people with their decision making challenges?

DecisionPlanner can make that happen! Create a decision in DecisionPlanner and turn it into a model so you can share it with others. You can choose 3 different programs – from simply sharing it with others to putting your logo and contact information on it, in addition to charging others for using it.

People need help in the decision making process. Some people are put off by the daunting nature of collecting the information needed to make a good decision. They worry whether they have considered all the relevant factors. They worry whether they have listed all the possible alternatives. They worry whether they have considered all the angles. You could give people a significant head start in the process.

Help others identify their decision's perspectives: Who will have a say in their decision? Who will have a stake in the outcome of their decision? You may have experience that will allow them to consider perspectives they might have overlooked.

Help others develop their list of alternatives. We have all heard the phrase “think outside the box” - Help your customers or clients think outside the box. If you have a product or service to sell, be sure this is included in the list of alternatives. By honestly portraying your alternative as one of many, you will generate more business.

Decision criteria, or factors, are the specific measures that they will use to determine which alternative is their best choice. It is important to identify all the factors relevant to a decision if you want to do a thorough job. People have a hard time getting this right. They don't always consider all the right criteria and make less than ideal choices because of it. If you have a product or service available, make sure to list the factors that showcase your offering, but don't list only those factors. People will see through that. You'll benefit in the long run by providing value-added criteria, not just that criteria that makes your product the only choice.

Take the factors that are relevant to the decision and assign a desired value to each of them. It helps if you can think of the factors in simple terms: the factor target as a number, or a Yes / No answer, or as a value on a scale from 1 - 5. This is not completely necessary, but it does allow people to objectively compare the factor's desired value with the alternatives' actual values in a methodical way.

Go to DecisionPlanner today and use your experience to create a decision that can be used as a model for others. You will benefit from the knowledge that you have helped others through a difficult decision and perhaps make a profit doing so.

Would you like help with decision making? Try DecisionPlanner at www.decisionplanner.com.

New Feature: Paired Rankings!

The latest version of DecisionPlanner has a new feature called paired rankings. You enter your alternatives and DecisionPlanner walks you through each combination and asks for a vote.

Various studies have shown that people have a much easier time choosing between two options than they do ranking a list of three or more options. Our common sense tells us this would be the case.

Therefore, if you have more than two alternatives, a valuable technique is to put the alternatives into pairs and choose between two at a time. For example, if you have three alternatives (A,B, C), first choose between A and B, then A and C, then B and C - only two at a time. Score one point for each alternative when you choose it. The alternative with the most points is your preferred solution. This technique gives you a more accurate ranking of your alternatives. The power of this technique increases with the number of alternatives you have to consider.

You can also do this paired ranking technique by perspective. A perspective is anyone, or any entity (a department in your company, for example), that has a stake In the outcome of your decision. Have each perspective go through the paired ranking process. You may find agreement, but even If you do not, you'll end up with a ranking of the alternatives that will give you a sound basis to continue the decision making process.

Would you like help with decision making? Try DecisionPlanner at www.yoopersoft.com.

Check out the latest version of DecisionPlanner!

Yoopersoft is proud to announce the latest version of DecisionPlanner. It is available at www.yoopersoft.com.

DecisionPlanner now offers Decision Modeling. Help people make decisions by sharing your expertise. Create a decision model for others to copy. There are three programs available, two of which can allow you to make some money and build your own business.

DecisionPlanner now has a wizard that makes it easier to enter information related to your decision. Simply answer the questions on the screen and click the next button. You’ll get feedback early and often. DecisionPlanner will offer recommendations and rank your alternatives early in the process and often as you give it more information.

One of the most powerful new techniques used in DecisionPlanner is paired rankings. If you have more than two alternatives, or more than one perspective, paired rankings offers a superior method of ranking you options. The theory is that you can choose between two options far easier than you can rank a list of more than two options. Based on this, we present each combination of options and ask, by perspective, you to choose which of the two you prefer. After each combination has been presented, DecisionPlanner ranks you alternatives and offers recommendations such as eliminating alternatives that received absolutely no votes or even adding alternatives and perspectives if it’s appropriate. If this process gives you a clear solution, great! If not, it’s on to the next technique: Pro-con analysis.

Pro-con analysis asks you for the factors, or decision criteria, you will use to decide. Each factor is then designated as a “pro” or a “con” for each alternative. Based on this, DecisionPlanner will once again rank your alternatives and offer recommendations.

The final and most powerful technique is the Analytical analysis. For those of you who have used DecisionPlanner already, this is the tool you are already familiar with. The analytical analysis asks you to enter target values for each factor, and then actual values for each alternative / factor combination. Using various formulas, DecisionPlanner compares the target values to the actual values and, once again, ranks your alternatives. Comprehensive reports then guide you to the right solution for you.

Would you like help with decision making? Try DecisionPlanner at www.yoopersoft.com.

New DecisionPlanner Version Due January 15th!

We have been busy working on our new version of DecisionPlanner. Based in part on feedback from some of you, we have made it easier to enter information, provided insight earlier in the process, and offered powerful new tools that will help you arrive at the right solution for you. Look for our new new version on January 18, 2008!

The key features are:

• A streamlined entry process
• A new paired ranking feature that gives you valuable information early in the process
• A new pro / con evaluation tool
• Results displays and recommendations to improve the quality of your decision

Would you like some help with decision making? Try DecisionPlanner at www.yoopersoft.com.

Decision by Consensus

Decisions by committee get a bad rap. Decisions by consensus are usually characterized as a lowest common denominator compromise. And, oftentimes that is true, but not always. And, it can be a time saver.

When you have a decision that involves multiple perspectives, and those perspectives have a vote in the decision, it’s important to understand their objectives and their viewpoints.

If the objective of the decision is not agreed upon or understood by all the decision’s perspectives, it is hard to imagine that they will come to a consensus on the most optimal solution. Everyone involved must thoroughly understand what is being decided, and the objective, or desired outcome, of that decision.

Many times, usually because people aren’t listening, the various stakeholders in a decision don’t really understand each other’s position. Each person is so busy selling his viewpoint that he doesn’t take the time to truly listen to other’s viewpoints. We’ve all been in meetings where an opinion has been oversold – everyone agrees with the speaker, but he keeps going on and on. One of the key messages in any sales training is the concept of shutting up and listening. It’s not hard to talk yourself out of a sale. Lots of people are uncomfortable with silence, but you must stop talking long enough to listen to others. You might just find that there is a consensus and you can proceed with the implementation of the group’s decision.

Would you like some help with decision making? Try DecisionPlanner at www.yoopersoft.com.

Fast & Easy Solutions to our Problems

The book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcom Gladwell speaks to the appeal of snap decisions made by our “unconscious computer”. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I believe a more deliberate, thorough approach leads to a better decision.

Why does the snap decision hold such appeal? Why do we have such a strong desire for a speedy outcome? Have we become lazy?

I think that the generation reared on television and movies (mine, for sure) has come to expect easy and fast solutions. No problem is so large that it can not be neatly resolved in 3 hours or less. Crimes are routinely solved in an hour, less if you take out the commercials. It’s very rare to watch meticulous analysis and planning in movies or television shows (how dull – I wouldn’t be entertained either). Even though adults know this is just entertainment, I believe it has an effect on how we view and approach decisions in our lives. It certainly has an effect on children. The entertainment industry tends to send contradictory messages. They downplay the negative effects of violence and crass behavior in the media. They say they merely reflect what is already out in society rather than influence behavior. However, they tell their customers a very different story. Their customers hear how incredibly effective advertising is in shaping our buying behavior. It seems to me that they can’t have it both ways. We expect things to be resolved quickly and easily – no work required – because we have been conditioned to expect that through our exposure to that behavior in our national babysitter – the media.

Would you like some help with decision making? Try DecisionPlanner at www.yoopersoft.com.

Another Book Review

I recently read a book entitled Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcom Gladwell. In it he proposes that using our intuition to make “snap decisions” is valid and these decisions often turns out more accurate than a more robust decision process. He provides some anecdotal evidence and studies that support his theory, but other books provide anecdotal evidence and studies that show that most bad decisions are a result of a hasty and faulty analysis. Obviously, I don’t agree with the premise that snap decisions are reliable.

• Many investors lose money. They rely on hunches and tips that “feel right”. Those that do their homework and proper analysis achieve better results.
• Our first impressions regarding our relationships are often all wrong. Why is the divorce rate so high if our intuition is so strong?

Gladwell makes the point that good judgment often supersedes detailed analysis (his example is people who are experts on art). That certainly seems to make sense. People get good judgment in a particular area due to intensive training and extensive experience. I maintain that it is not their intuition that guides them or their “unconscious computer” as he calls it, but their ability to do a thorough analysis “on the fly” due to their expertise. Most of us would have to perform a detailed analysis, with some tools (whether it be DecisionPlanner or a pen and paper), to arrive at a reasonable conclusion. Folks with extraordinary expertise do this without the tools and in a fraction of the time.

A couple of other observations Gladwell makes:

• Too much data is bad. “Analysis paralysis” is certainly to be avoided. Sometimes people just collect data to procrastinate. Often a lot of the data collected in the decision making process is just irrelevant. Those people with “good judgment” know, from experience, which data matters and therefore are able to arrive at a solution faster. Those of us without that expertise will have to decide which data matters, and we won’t always be right.
• Our prejudices and biases get in the way of effective decision making. Our prejudices can be eliminated or minimized with effort, and should be.

Would you like some help with decision making? Try DecisionPlanner at www.yoopersoft.com.