Decision Making Tools and Techniques

Decision Making Tools come in all shapes and sizes and are used for different purposes. All are used with decision calculations as aids during the different decision making steps within a decision making process.

The tools may be purchased software, homegrown forms and charts. Some lists and text descriptions are falsely named as tools, but the area is quite grey - the lists may be sets of questions which enable the decision maker to come to a conclusion, or gather data.

Examples of Decision Making Tools are spreadsheets, matrixes, forms, lists, charts, score cards, diagrams and trees. All are used in conjunction with decision criteria and data in the appropriate context to analyze the data.

Examples of Tools:

Cost Benefit Analysis Model

BCG Matrix

Weighted Matrix

Decision Support System

Decision Trees

SWOT

PEST

PMI - Pluses, Minuses and Interesting Points

Pareto's Analysis

Six Thinking Hats

Mind Mapping

See some other great Mind Tools at Make Time for Success!

Come back soon to see our ever growing list of Decision Making Tools and check out our DECIDE GUIDES for quick and proven Decision Making Guides.

The tools are used to give data structure, and with many tools, the decisions may "fall off the page" as the data is entered.

Tools are used in conjunction with some models, where changing the inputs may drive different outcomes or output. Many tools are used to forecast or predict outcomes, thus allowing the decision making to eliminate or validate choices.

Other tools are used to simulate the various options. Some are used to drive a decision in a particular direction.

We would caution you when you tumble across information that is claiming to be about "Decision Making Tools" that looks suspiciously like a list of steps in a decision making process. The author has confused the terms, and this should be considered just another process or set of steps.