Decision Book, The [Hardcover]

This small sized book (173 pages) covers a set of models that could fall under decision making tools (if you use a broad spectrum for that definition that is).

The models get placed under 4 basic questions:
1) How to improve yourself
2) How to understand yourself
3) How to understand others better
4) How to improve others

Some models are well known and broadly used, some are lesser known, some disappoint and some are nice surprises.

This book is a very fast read and really stripped down to the basics. The models are explained in single page format, followed up with an illustration. So as long as you don't expect detailed explanations on the models, you will love this one.

Interesting!

Contents

Instruction for use

How to improve yourself
- The Eisenhower matrix: How to work more efficiently
- The SWOT analysis: How to find the right solution
- The BCG box: How to evaluate costs and benefits
- The project portfolio matrix: How to maintain an overview
- The John Whitmore model: Am I pursuing the right goal?
- The rubber band model: How to deal with a dilemma
- The feedback model: Dealing with other's people's compliments and criticism
- The family tree model: The contacts you should maintain
- The morphological box and SCAMPER: Why you have to be structured to be creative
- The Esquire gift model: How much to spend on gifts
- The consequences model: Why it is important to make decisions promptly
- The conflict resolution model: How to resolve a conflict elegantly
- The crossroads model: So what next?

How to understand yourself
- The flow model: What makes you happy?
- The Johari window: What others know about you
- The cognitive dissonance model: Why people smoke when they know it's unhealthy
- The music matrix: What your taste in music says about you
- The unimaginable model: What do you believe in that you cannot prove?
- The Uffe Elbaek model: How to get to know yourself
- The fashion model: How we dress
- The energy model: Are you living in the here and now?
- The SuperMemo model: How to remember everything you have ever learned
- The political compass: What political parties stand for (UK model)
- The personal performance model: How to recognize whether you should change your job
- The making-of model: To determine your future, first understand your past
- The personal potential trap: Why it is better not to expect anything
- The hype cycle: how to identify the next big thing
- The subtle signals model: What your friends say about you
- The superficial knowledge model: Everything you don't need to know

How to understand others better
- The Swiss cheese model: How mistakes happen
- The Maslow pyramids: What you actually need, what you actually want
- Thinking outside the box: How to come up with brilliant ideas
- The Sinus Milieu and Bourdieu models: Where you belong
- The double-loop learning model: How to learn from your mistakes
- The AI model: What kind of discussion type are you?
- The small-world model: How small the world actually is
- The Pareto principle: Why 80 per cent of the output is achieved with 20 per cent of the input
- The long-tail model: How the internet is transforming the economy
- The Monte Carlo simulation: Why we can only approximate a definitive outcome
- The black swan model: Why your experiences don't make you any wiser
- The chasm - the diffusion model: Why everybody has an iPod
- The black box model: Why faith is replacing knowledge
- The status model: How to recognize a winner
- The prisoner's dilemma: When is it worth trusting someone?

How to improve others
- The Drexler-Sibbet team performance model: How to turn a group into a team
- The team model: Is your team up to the job?
- The gap-in-the-market model: How to recognize a bankable idea
- The Hersey-Blanchard model (situational leadership): how to successfully manage your employees
- The role-playing model: How to change your own point of view
- The result optimization model: Why the printer always breaks down just before a deadline
- The world's next top model

Now it is your turn
- Drawing lesson 1
- Drawing lesson 2
- My models

Appendix
- Bibliography
- Illustration credits
- Final note
- Thanks
- The authors

Stumbled on this little book at the MIT Coop. I've been an analyst and strategic thinker for 25+ years, but have never seen a survey like this that covers so much territory so succinctly. It's a great overview to lots of the common conceptual frameworks used by decision analysts. It's not going to tell you enough to employ most of these techniques, but it does have enough info to point the user towards the right kind of tools for various kinds of problems. Just flipping through it as you contemplate a challenging problem should get neurons firing. My only criticism is that a lot of the examples are drawn from personal decisions, as opposed to corporate or pol-mil examples. Many of these models are applicable to those areas as well (or in fact were invented in those spheres).

The book is very concise and presents all the topics and concepts in an executive fashion.
Even though it has a good coverage, it is not recommended for those who are not familiar with Strategy Concepts as SWOT, BCG, and others. Very good for a quick review though.