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Decision Deficit Disorder
By Ron Minke

We all know about the well discussed and documented dangers of “Analysis Paralysis”, but are you up to date on a recently diagnosed corporate disorder, Decision Deficit Disorder (DDD)?  This seems to be striking mostly cruelly at professional middle managers with high aspirations of multiple promotions looming in front of them.

Symptoms-
Tom, recently promoted, according to the Peter’s Principle, to a level outside of his area of expertise and comfort, is now faced with making decisions that require input that is unknown to him. Tom experiences a vague fear that there are things that he knows he doesn’t know that will affect the decision in front of him.  His concern is escalated as he has no one to turn to for advice and counsel in this matter. Corporate downsizing has reduced all the gray hairs who have already been through this and Tom’s boss, an excellent manager in his own right, is relatively new to the company himself and is expecting Tom to be the “go to guy” for this issue.

Analysis Paralysis (AP) is more commonly seen when the decision making is delayed by the request for more answers to obvious or apparently obvious questions. These requests all result in another round of activities and potentially more questions, ad nauseum.

DDD is much more subtle and may manifest itself as AP as the sufferer tries to quell the sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach with delay tactics that make the problem appear to be someone else’s problem. DDD is a chronic problem and is finally diagnosed in the dreaded annual performance review; where a complete lack of any substantial progress on any problem is duly noted by the reviewer.  DDD is nearly always fatal for those contracting it.

Cure-
DDD is a very difficult disorder to cure, as it is very difficult to diagnose before it has turned terminal. The preferred treatment is prevention, easily administered through careful training in the I-TRIZ methodology.

Triz-
The I-TRIZ family of tools is designed to allow a trained user to improve their comfort level with the creation of problem solutions.  Through the I-TRIZ methodology and software, users can be significantly more confident that a solution is not a local optimum.  Furthermore, they can be assured that the solution represents a valid direction and that there is not another solution off in some different direction.  I-TRIZ focuses the problem solving and brainstorming efforts into areas of the most likely solution.

Don’t start thinking that the I-TRIZ tools are a magic box, because they aren’t. What the I-TRIZ tools do is, quickly and efficiently focus the expertise and brainstorming ability of your team into areas of the most likely solution. Anybody can benefit and get better results through the application of the I-TRIZ tools.  The greater your team’s level of expertise, the faster you will get to a better solution.

Enhancing your solution-
The AFD (Anticipatory Failure Determination) module of the I-TRIZ tool box quickly and efficiently guides you through the process of finding the potential weaknesses in your solution.  Unlike single issue techniques like FMEA, AFD looks at the real world situation where Failures are usually a stack up of several different factors acting in combination.  Each of these factors on their own can be identified with FMEA and addressed, but the real failure issue is when a chain of events occurs.  AFD leads you down the thought path by asking the question “How can I make this system fail?” Once these chains can be identified, corrective solutions can be developed.

Are you interested in how you can achieve rapid resolution of your problems with a high degree of confidence that you have a great solution? Contact the I-TRIZ specialists at aptimise to learn more about how you can apply the I-TRIZ tools for accelerated competitive advantage.