I love that J.D. “satisficing”. Yes, sometimes we just need to do something 80% of the way to make a decision and move on. 

I also really like the Six Thinking Hats. We cover that in my class in addition to the grid analysis worksheet. I’m not familiar with CARVER. I’ll have to check that out.

I also completely agree with your assertion that a lot of decisions come down to who we want to be and the experiences we want to create. When we’ve figured those two things out it allows the decision making process to move forward quickly.

Thanks for your comment!

Some of the techniques I use include: criteria and weights, CARVER (Criticality, Accessibility, Return, Vulnerability, Effect, and Recognizability), and Six Thinking Hats.  At Microsoft, I tend to use criteria and weight when I need to get agreement with others on what the priorities are.  I also tend to use Six Thinking Hats when I need to rapidly have folks change perspective, and take a more holistic view.

At the end of the day, I’ve found that a lot of the decisions come down to who do you want to be and what experiences do you want to create.  Basically, the more you can connect your decisions to your “Why” or to your values, the stickier they are.

The secret of changing habits is to first decide who you want to be and our identify helps us pattern match the best fits.