I am using Threat Modeling approach to make tough decisions. Without delving into details it incorporates everybody’s view (like you said, everybody’s finger print). In the end I get the overall risk of making the decision or letting it go. If one of my important goals (assets) is under serious risk I make the decision to mitigate it. Otherwise I accept the risk, move on, and never look back.

As far as decision making, most of the toughest decisions aren’t linear.
Experts make rapid critical decisions using satisficing.
In fact, it’s helpful to sanity check whether your gut reaction matches your thoughtful conclusion.

The key in any decision making system is identifying the relevant criteria and weighting the criteria. The mistake is to simply list pros/cons and *count* the pros against cons.

I use this approach to share my decision making frame with others and to expose the criteria and also get clarification around the value of the criteria.

Very simple, but very powerful.

The best part about stuff you pointed is it has simple steps to follow. I do it on intuitive level, but this KT stuff prescribes simple steps.
I definitely going to give it a try although methods might be vary but principles resonates with me a lot

THANKS!

I took a 2-day class on it. It’s definitely for industrial strength decision making (e.g. investment, hiring selection, make vs. buy)

It’s really meant for making decisions when multiple people are affected. It’s a way to cut through the opinions/emotions, and make a rational decision based on facts.

Here’s a simplified version:
http://www.decide-guide.com/kepner-tregoe.html

I used it once to make a recommendation on tool selection for next generation technology. Another time, I used it to decide what software to buy for our company.

http://practicethis.com/2007/05/31/if-it-is-simple-and-stupid-then-there-is-a-chance-it-works/

I might be involved in less complex world though…

“Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated. ”
Confucius

Funny, my next post is about personal strengths. I think that one of my strengths is breaking complex (in my world) problems into many simple, and then solving it one by one. My technique is simple – start with something simple, something i know:
http://blogs.msdn.com/jmeier/archive/2008/02/10/start-with-something-simple.aspx

Have you heard of Kepner-Trago analysis? KT analysis? I’d be curious to know what you think of it. It’s a systematic way to make a complex decision. Very nice way to convert complex problem to a simple problem. It is, however, time intensive (not good for quick decision making.)