13. Anatomy of a Decision

By now we all know that our mess is composed of multiple problems which all interact in some capacity. This mess can be thought of in terms of its actual state and its desired state. We also know that if the desired and actual states are the same, we have no decision to make as we do not have a problem. If, however, there is a delta between the two, we need to invoke a decision process in an attempt to bridge the gap. This involves creating a model of our mess utilizing the actual state of our system as best we know (as we have done in Chaps. 6–12). This modeled state, along with a desired state, feeds into a decision process. The output of this decision process is a decision or set of decisions which provide feedback through action (and the result of our action) to our mess and its constituent problems. This set of relationships is shown in Fig. 13.1. This chapter aims to elaborate on the decision process element in Fig. 13.1. We first begin with discussing some basics of decision analysis and decision science. We then proceed to discuss the decision process and how we can execute it. This leads to a framework for action in our mess.