Decision Making

In the process of growing up I've learned that nothing can be taken for granted and everything about a person can be improved, including decision making skills. I always thought this was an non-improvable characteristic that sets itself once you hit maturity, similar to outer characteristics like your nose or height, but I was wrong. Things on the inside are more flexible than I originally anticipated. I took it for granted.

I've always felt that making judgments and decisions in various situations was always one of my greatest strengths as a person. I'm smart and extremely logical, but most important I'm fast. I spent a hefty chunk of time in my past playing fast paced real time strategy video games, mostly starcraft and warcraft 3, on nearly the highest level possible. I take my confidence in video game snap-decision making and translated that into confidence in making snap decisions at work and in life in general.

The problem with this kind of decision making is that the world is a far more complicated place than the isolated environment in a video game. There are far fewer variables in a video games and all information is usually out in the open and clear, so I can easily assess a situation. In Life, the situation isn't always clear; I can't just send a scout troop out to check the enemy movement. I find myself often making stiff judgements that are proven wrong in the following few days as new information arises, or even in a few minutes as someone speaks up out of more experience or knowledge in the area. I do this out of habit rather than out of necessity. For some situations being able to make quick decisions is an asset, while in some situations it works against you.

Solutions: I've come up with a guideline for myself to follow from now on. When I think of things this way I should be able to improve my decision making skills.

1. Determine the time frame for a solution. How urgent is this?
2. Determine the gravity of the situation. The first variable is time, so this one would be space. How large is the problem at hand? The universe is broken into space and time, so should your decision making.
3. Who is involved and how? This question is one of the most important because it deals directly with the people question. By knowing who is involved and who will be affected, you can more accurately plan your attack and know what results you are looking for. You also know who will be affected if you screw up, so by backtracking you can more accurately avoid the mistakes that affect the most people.
4. Record and Double Check: Before making a decision, make sure that everything that is involved has been recorded: what was asked of you, what needs to be done to get there, who is involved, how much time it will take, and what your plan is. Then double check it and make sure you double check with the person who asked you to make the decision. If you do something without first checking with the person who asked you to do it, you might be doing something that they didn't ask for. This avoids problems of miscommunication, and also more importantly backlash. With records of everything, if a mistake has been made you can trace it back to its origin. Was it your fault or someone else's? Could this have been avoided?

While #4 isn't usually possible when needing to make "snap" decisions, the first three are really helpful. Sometimes what may seem like it needs to be decided now isn't as urgent as it seems. People may be looking for a decision now, but they more often than not can put it off while you take more time to analyze the information. This is what I do worst - I feed off of everyone's impatience for an answer and compulsively spit out what I feel is right at the time without research.

#4 then kicks in with everything else. Not only will this help with the thinking process, but the system is there to save you from people, including your past self. I say past self here because after you've went through with whatever decision and found that you made a mistake, this will help you see how you can avoid it in the future - thus improving your ability in the future.

I made a mistake today at work that may be pretty costly because I didn't follow these steps. I came up with a decision and put it through in an hour when I had a day to do it. I didn't double check with the client that needed something done, and it turned out that there was a miscommunication that may push my project back a week. I didn't realize the gravity of the situation: I didn't know how much much work it would take to get the project done and that any mistake would cost quite a few people a lot of time. I didn't record everything, so I can't prove that it wasn't a fault in my Chinese or because of my lack of experience, so either the others believe me or I'm at fault - I'm completely in their hands.

Luckily I can save myself from my past self - I can improve the way I make decisions in the future and not make these kinds of mistakes again. Of course definitely most important is not taking them to heart and using them as ways to improve. So here I am. Any suggestions?