Decider

Decider is (c) Fred Cohen, 2005-2024 - All Rights Reserved - Patents and Patents Pending
Decider - Stop Guessing, Start Deciding!

Decider: Stop Guessing, Start Deciding!

The Ultimate Decision-Making Tool

Are You Drowning in Decisions?

You're constantly bombarded with critical choices. Every decision impacts your future. Are you making the *right* ones? Decider is the revolutionary platform designed to give you the clarity, confidence, and insights you need to succeed.

Unlock the Power of Data-Driven Decisions

Decider isn't just another tool; it's your strategic advantage. Here's how Decider transforms your decision-making process:

  • Visualize Your Options: Organize factors in a clear, 2-dimensional space. See the big picture and identify hidden opportunities.
  • Prioritize What Matters: Weigh the favorability and importance of each factor. Ensure your decisions align with your goals and values.
  • Automated Analysis: Get instant insights with our powerful automated analysis and presentation features. Save time and make informed decisions faster than ever.
  • Side-by-Side Comparisons: Evaluate alternatives with ease. Decider's comparison features help you make better decisions, time and again.

Decider in Action: Real-World Examples

Decider empowers you to make smarter decisions in every aspect of your business and personal life:

  • Business Decisions: Hiring, product launches, market entry, investment strategies, and more.
  • Personal Decisions: Career changes, major purchases, relocation, and life planning.

The Decider Advantage: Why Choose Decider?

Tired of endless debates and internal discussions? Decider offers a structured, data-driven approach to decision-making, giving you the edge you need to thrive. And it takes into account your emotional intelligence. Here's what sets us apart:

  • Clarity: Cut through the noise and see the big picture.
  • Confidence: Make informed decisions you can justify.
  • Efficiency: Save time and make faster, better choices.
  • Effectiveness: It takes feelings into account.
  • Results: Drive success with data-backed decisions.

Ready to Transform Your Decision-Making?

Don't let another crucial decision slip through the cracks. Join the successful people who trust Decider. Sign up today and experience the power of better decision-making!

Start Making Better Decisions Today!
Decider™ helps people make and justify their decisions.. It does this by having people place and move factors in simple decisions around a 2-dimensional space. The two dimensions are (in essence) Favorability (← to →) and Importance (↑ to ↓).
FactorCOG
32
TestTop
25
The colored factors each has a tag, name, and description (not shown). The color reflects the location in the space. The tag in this case has the number 32 and the name is TestTop. Settings may anonymize the name in various ways and the tag can display areas rather than numbers, The overall background color reflects the center of gravity (COG), and the COG is symbol contains the 'weight' of the COG. As you move factors around the space (by grabbing the tag and moving the pointer) their colors change, the COG changes, and the colors change.
In a more complex example, Decider may be used to help with things like product selection, personal decisions, and any number of other ways. Multiple instances of the Decider display may be set in a matrix on the screen for side-by-side comparisons of alternatives. So for example, for product selection, two products might be set next to each other with the same factors positioned differently based on their importance and favorability. In the example at left, the one on the bottom right is greener than the one on the bottom right, which may be interpreted as its being the better choice. The 'Matrix' selection allows you to choose the matrix share (e.g., 2x2) and the Help button shows this Web page.
These examples also have additional menus apparent, box sizes, and comment areas. That's because The is on at the top left (colored and numbers per the COG) was used to change the look and feel, including enabling additional controls at the top.
The menus and their functions are as follows:
  • Look and Feel: This is the box at the top left of the window that is colored and marked with the current value of the COG. It includes:
    • Show/Hide: Show or hide the other menus.
    • Labels: Set labels to screen area, weight, power, or "*"
    • Titles: Change titles to locations, anonymous, pseudononymous, etc. to reduce cognitive bias.
    • Fading: Fade the less important factors for a different feel.
    • Colors: Set the color scheme. Default is Green to Red with Yellow in the middle - stop light.
    • Box sizes: Set the box sizes to handle long factor names, fill the screen, etc.
    • Font sizes: Set the font sizes to facilitate reading and editing. Or just to fill the screen.
    • Volume: Decider makes sounds when certain things happen. This controls the volume.
    • Duration: The sounds can last longer or shorter periods of time.
  • Groups:
    • Dropdown: If you select a different item from the drop-down at the right, it will save the current group, load the newly selected group, and load the Default Item from that Group.
    • Save: will save the current group to internal storage.
    • Groups⇒:
      • New: uses the name in the Name: field, if present, to create a new group under that name
      • Load: Loads the currently identified group over top of whatever else is there, essentially an undo of changes since last use or save
      • Backup: Backs up the group to the clipboard, the content of whicdh can then be restored to another group
      • Restore: Restores the group from the clipboard
      • Delete: Deletes the group and everything in it, returning you to the Default group and Default Item in that Group
  • Item:
    • Load: Load the current content from internal storage under the Item: name
    • Save: Save the current content to internal storage under the Item: name OR if the "Name" field has something in it, under that name!
    • Item⇒:
      • Add Factor: Adds a new Factor to the current Item, placing it at the bottom center of the display area.
      • Delete Factor: Deletes the Factor currently select for editing from the Item.
      • CAREFUL:
        • Clear Item: Clears all factors from the current item.
        • Delete Item: Deletes the item from the item list.
      • TEST→: This adds factors to the current item as listed for testing purposes
    • Drop-down: Select the desired named item to act upon it (Load/Save/etc.)
    • Name: To save under a new Item name, enter the name here, then use Save per the above.
    • Description: (in this case 'Test TEST') is the short description of this Item and may be edited along with the more detailed description at the bottom of the screen by selecting oit for editing.
  • File: Using the clipboard, browser storage, or file system, you can:
    • Copy / export: from the current item.
    • Paste / import: to the current item.
    • Add: factors from another item to the current item.
    • Infuse: the X or Y settings of the same factor names from another item into the current item.
    • Backup or Restore: all of the items in the current group to or from storage.

    For Browser, you can also paste from JSON:

    • Add JSON This facilitates using AI to produce an intial list of factors for a decision. For example, by using this prompt:

        For the following decision, identify the top 25 factors that would reasonably effect such a decision, producing the output as a JSON string containing key,value pairs where they key is the factor and the value is a descriptrion of the factor. The decision is characterized as "a product selection for routing and switching equipment in a regional factory"

      You should be able to copy the JSON for an initial set of factors, and then paste the JSON results into an empty (or over an exiting) set of factors. It typically generates a decent list of relevant factors and explanations that can then be edited for particulars. Obviously, change the decision characterization to suit your needs.

  • Locks: are used to prevent changes for the current item in:
    • X or Y: This limits movement of factors to be in the non-locked dimension (if there is one).
    • Add / Delete: This prevents the addition or deletion of factors in the current item.
    • Name/Comm: This prevents renaming factors or altering their detailed description (comment).
    • Star: The prevents use of the Look and Feel menu for changing look and feel (and available menu items)
    • LockLocks: This locks changing locks. Note that once this is locked, it cannot be unlocked, because ... it locks changing locks.
  • Group: This allows group-wide (all the items except Default) in the current group) fusions (you can think of them as weighted votes):
    • Combined: This simply loads all factors from all items in the group into the same display. It is a mashup of all factors, producing a group mashup COG.
    • Averages: This averages each factor name from the group placing it at the average X (favorability) and Y (importance) location in the display. This is essentially weighted voting on each factor across the group.
    • COGS: This takes the COG from each item in the group and produces a factor with the name of the item in the location of the COG of that item. Thus it allows side-by-side comparisons of the overall weighted value of each of the alternatives in the same space for ready comparison and display.
    Each of these ignores the Default item and sets the item name to Default, so it can be saved as Default without interfering with the other items in the group.
  • Reports: This produces a variety of reports useful for different purposes:
    • Short: This produces a TicTacToe report, a Risk report, and an Analysis report.
      • TicTacToe: This is shown by example below.
      • Risk report: This report produces an assessment of risk (uncertainty), dominance (if any), the answer you might reasonably draw (do this or not) based on the information provided, and Decided (is it really clear that this is something the answer is clear on).

        Risk Report

        RiskDominanceAnswerDecided
        HighNoneUnclearNo
      • Analysis report: This analysis indicates how the analysis was done (for example augmenting higher importance values with lower importance ones), the possible need for clarification to make a definitive decision, and the indication of the COG.

        Analysis Report

        Augmenting with medium importance/2.

        Important favorable, unfavorable, and neutral! Clarify the neutral before making the decision.

        COG indicates more information is needed.

    • Spreadsheet: This report provides a list of all factors by factor number with their name, C and Y coordinates (0-10000) and details:
      Spread Sheet for Product Selection Sample
      ItemNameXYDetails
      0Cost4232.91614815176858888.888888777778Description
      1Ease of use8875.6817550585757777.777777555555Description
      2Efficiency751.84503579162664444.444443888889Description
      3Compatibility6882.0577164366376666.6666663333335Description
      4Support7915.4636357356085555.555555111111Description
      5Availability4932.9482694447793333.333332666667Description
      6Company stability5866.53825982013952222.2222214444446Description
      7Company size424.12560529956691111.1111102222221Description
      Spread Sheet for Product Selection Sample
    • Long: A Long report includes TicTacToe, Risk, Analysis, Neutral, Favorable, and Unfavorable sorted reports (see below), and a spreadsheet report.
    • Full: A full report includes a depiction of the display along with a Long report. This is in a separate browser tab so you can save it, print it, and so forth. To return to Decider, go back to the previous browser tab.
    • TicTacToe: This produces a report that looks like a tic-tac-toe board with factors and COG and MEAN placed in the different squares. Each factor has its weight indicated and the background colors reflect the area they are in.
      ↓Importance↓←Favorability→
      Most important
      46 Cost
      79 Ease of use
      Important
      62 Efficiency
      32 COG
      23 MEAN
      59 Support
      54 Compatibility
      Less important
      32 Company size
      24 Company stability
      19 Availability
      UnfavorableNeutralFavorable
    • Sorted: The sorted report provides a listing of all factors and their descriptions, the COG, and Mean, sorted from the highest weighting to the lowest. Weighting is a function of importance and favorability, where more importance is higher weight and favorability weight increases with distance from center.

      Factor Weight Sorted Report

      WeightFactor (and details)
      87Market Research
      No substantive market research has been done to date.
      78Pricing Strategy
      Pricing strategy is poorly developed and not based on substantive analytics.
      75Product Development
      Product development is not proceeding at the desired pace.
      65Value Proposition
      No sensible description of the value proposition has been expressed.
      60Metrics and Analytics
      Metrics are not used in a systematic manner.
      59
      The COG
      52
      The MEAN
      47Positioning
      Position in the market is starting to be considered.
      44Messaging
      Messaging has been developed and is being used to get investment.
      40Customer Support and Experience
      Strong customer support is in place and customer experience is a critical value for the company.
      40Revenue Generation
      Sales are underway and an initial sale has been made.
      33Marketing and Sales Strategy
      Marketing and sales strategy is just getting started.
      29Investment and Funding
      Our initial investor has expressed no desire to continue, but we have enough cash to proceed for another months.
    • Favorable: A Favorable report displays the information in such a way as to produce a favorable view of the same information as the sorted report provides by using primacy and recency to emphasize more positive aspects to the reader.

      Favorable Template Report

      Rating Factor (and details)
      40
      Customer Support and Experience
      Strong customer support is in place and customer experience is a critical value for the company.
      40
      Revenue Generation
      Sales are underway and an initial sale has been made.
      44
      Messaging
      Messaging has been developed and is being used to get investment.
      29
      Investment and Funding
      Our initial investor has expressed no desire to continue, but we have enough cash to proceed for another months.
      33
      Marketing and Sales Strategy
      Marketing and sales strategy is just getting started.
      47
      Positioning
      Position in the market is starting to be considered.
      60
      Metrics and Analytics
      Metrics are not used in a systematic manner.
      65
      Value Proposition
      No sensible description of the value proposition has been expressed.
      75
      Product Development
      Product development is not proceeding at the desired pace.
      78
      Pricing Strategy
      Pricing strategy is poorly developed and not based on substantive analytics.
      87
      Market Research
      No substantive market research has been done to date.
      40
      Customer Support and Experience
      Strong customer support is in place and customer experience is a critical value for the company.
    • AI Favorable: This report uses generative AI to produce a favorable report - for example, using a Decider result produced by the GWiz™ tool, a report like this is produced:

        Company Situation Report: XRay of Scat

        This report provides a detailed analysis of the company situation for XRay of Scat, based on the provided output. It examines each factor, its current state, and potential areas for improvement, along with the estimated impact of those improvements. The report concludes with a summary of key findings and recommendations.

        Expertise and supports for fulfillment

        Current Status: R&D, service, and support processes are optimized and adapted in advance to support current and anticipated fulfillment. No details provided.

        Analysis: The absence of specific details makes it difficult to assess the effectiveness of these processes. While the statement suggests proactive optimization, the lack of information prevents a thorough evaluation of their efficiency, scalability, or adaptability to future needs.

        Potential Improvement: No potential improvement has been identified.

        Supply chain

        Current Status: A redundant supply chain for fulfillment meets current and anticipated volume and pricing requirements. No details provided.

        Analysis: A redundant supply chain is a positive indicator of resilience, ensuring the ability to meet demand even in the face of disruptions. However, without specifics, it's impossible to assess the cost-effectiveness, efficiency, or potential vulnerabilities of the supply chain.

        Potential Improvement: No potential improvement has been identified.

        Processing capacity

        Current Status: Fulfillment can be processed at current and all anticipated (increased and decreased) capacity in time to meet the full range of anticipated demand at close to current cost and performance. No details provided.

        Analysis: The ability to handle fluctuating demand without significant cost or performance degradation is a key strength. However, the lack of specifics prevents a deeper understanding of the underlying infrastructure and its limitations.

        Potential Improvement: No potential improvement has been identified.

        Delivery requirements

        Current Status: All delivery capacity is timely, readily met, and scalable up and down within anticipated volume and desirable cost parameters. No details provided.

        Analysis: Timely and scalable delivery is crucial for customer satisfaction. The statement suggests a robust delivery system, but the absence of details makes it difficult to assess its efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

        Potential Improvement: No potential improvement has been identified.

        Fulfillment team capacity

        Current Status: Fulfillment team is able to meet all anticipated demand and adaptation is planned to meet changing anticipated fulfillment needs over time. Our LMS, content and cyberlab are all hosted on Google cloud. We can scale to any level of demand in minutes.

        Analysis: The use of Google Cloud for hosting provides significant scalability advantages. The ability to scale in minutes is a major strength, allowing the company to quickly adapt to changing demand. The statement indicates a proactive approach to adapting to future needs.

        Potential Improvement: No potential improvement has been identified.

        This particular example report goes on for another 30+ elements here...

        Key individuals and the team

        Current Status: Executive management is composed of individuals with specific expertise in the relevant areas required to run the business and recent relevant good performance experience in analogous situations. No details provided.

        Potential Improvement: Executive management is composed of individuals with specific expertise in the relevant areas required to run the business and with specific recent relevant vertical high performance experience in similar situations.

        Estimated Impact: Likely yield an overall effect on the situation of 11.11%.

        Significance: A strong executive team with relevant experience is crucial for success. This involves ensuring that the executive team has the necessary expertise and a proven track record of high performance in similar situations.

        Management structure

        Current Status: Management is structured to support efficient operation suitable to the size of the organizations they manage while providing clear lines of authority and the ability to coordinate and cooperate to meet strategic and operational needs. No details provided.

        Analysis: An efficient management structure is essential for effective operations. The lack of details makes it difficult to assess the effectiveness of this structure.

        Potential Improvement: No potential improvement has been identified.

        Management authorities and capacity

        Current Status: Management team members have adequate influence, access to information, and capacity to support sound decision-making in order to effectively and efficiently perform identified duties and coordinate across lines of authority. No details provided.

        Analysis: Adequate management authorities and capacity are essential for effective decision-making and coordination. The lack of details makes it difficult to assess the effectiveness of this effort.

        Potential Improvement: No potential improvement has been identified.

        Summary and Recommendations

        XRay of Scat demonstrates several strengths, including a scalable fulfillment infrastructure, a positive cash flow, and a focus on innovation. The company is also on the cusp of entering a high-growth phase. However, there are areas where improvements could significantly enhance the company's performance and long-term prospects.

        Key Recommendations:

        • Focus on Cost Optimization: Systematically reduce fulfillment costs to improve profitability.
        • Implement Dynamic Fulfillment Scaling: Implement predictive analytics to dynamically scale fulfillment based on demand and pricing.
        • Secure Funding for Exit: Secure funding through an exit strategy to provide long-term financial stability.
        • Establish Investment Instruments: Prepare for future funding rounds by establishing investment instruments.
        • Refine Sales Processes: Implement a CRM system and allocate resources based on sales performance data.
        • Develop Marketing Matrix: Refine the marketing matrix and engage with strategic partners.
        • Strengthen Intellectual Property Protection: Systematically apply for and protect intellectual property.
        • Strengthen Legal Compliance: Develop a systematic plan for identifying and addressing legal events and requirements.
        • Optimize Board Structure: Design board membership to meet investor requirements and maintain control.
        • Enhance Executive Team: Ensure the executive team has the necessary expertise and a proven track record.

        By addressing these recommendations, XRay of Scat can further strengthen its position, accelerate growth, and increase its chances of a successful exit.

    • Unfavorable: An UnFavorable report displays the information in such a way as to produce an unfavorable view of the same information as the sorted report provides by using primacy and recency to emphasize more negative aspects to the reader.

      UnFavorable Template Report

      Rating Factor and details
      87
      Market Research
      No substantive market research has been done to date.
      78
      Pricing Strategy
      Pricing strategy is poorly developed and not based on substantive analytics.
      75
      Product Development
      Product development is not proceeding at the desired pace.
      65
      Value Proposition
      No sensible description of the value proposition has been expressed.
      60
      Metrics and Analytics
      Metrics are not used in a systematic manner.
      47
      Positioning
      Position in the market is starting to be considered.
      33
      Marketing and Sales Strategy
      Marketing and sales strategy is just getting started.
      29
      Investment and Funding
      Our initial investor has expressed no desire to continue, but we have enough cash to proceed for another months.
      40
      Revenue Generation
      Sales are underway and an initial sale has been made.
      44
      Messaging
      Messaging has been developed and is being used to get investment.
      40
      Customer Support and Experience
      Strong customer support is in place and customer experience is a critical value for the company.
      29
      Investment and Funding
      Our initial investor has expressed no desire to continue, but we have enough cash to proceed for another months.
      33
      Marketing and Sales Strategy
      Marketing and sales strategy is just getting started.
      47
      Positioning
      Position in the market is starting to be considered.
      60
      Metrics and Analytics
      Metrics are not used in a systematic manner.
      65
      Value Proposition
      No sensible description of the value proposition has been expressed.
      75
      Product Development
      Product development is not proceeding at the desired pace.
      78
      Pricing Strategy
      Pricing strategy is poorly developed and not based on substantive analytics.
      87
      Market Research
      No substantive market research has been done to date.
    • AI Unfavorable: This report provides a prompt for generative AI to produce an UnFavorable report. Same trick as above for favorable reports, no need to repeat it here.
    • Legal: This produces copyright, patent, and related notices associated with Decider.
    All reports except the Full report are displayed on the screen and you click on the "Click to Close" to make it go away. The Full report is displayed in a separate browser tab.
  • Spreads:
    • Normalizing: This enables normalization so that when a factor is placed, it is normalized along with other factors within a region of the display. This essentially forces sorting in the favorability and importance dimensions by the user so they cannot simple place everything next to each other because they seem similar. In other words, it forces the user to set priorities.
    • Dim: This can be X (favorability), Y (importance), Both, or None.
    • Type: This can be:
      • Full: Factors are normalized across the full extent of the display.
      • Left Half: Factors are normalized within the left (and right) half independent of the other half.
      • Top Half: Factors are normalized within the top (and bottom) half independent of the other half.
      • Left Thirds: Factors are normalized within the left (center, and right) thirds independent of the other half.
      • Top Thirds: Factors are normalized within the top (middle, and bottom) thirds independent of the other half.
      • Quarters: Factors are normalized within the four quarters of the display independent of each other.
      • Ninths: Factors are normalized within the nine ninths of the display independent of each other.
      Of course if a factor is moved from one normalization area to another, the one it left renormalizes without it and the one it entered renormalizes with it.
      • Set: This does a single step of normalization even if normalization is not enabled based on movement.
      • Zero Y: This sets the Y (importance) of all items to zero, effectively moving them to the bottom of the screen. It is helpful in 'resetting' to allow the user to set the values without prior importance bias.
      • Center X: This sets the X (favorability) of all items to the center, allowing the user to then set theses values without prior bias.
      • Lower Y: This lowers importance to spread across the bottom third of the display. It is useful for large numbers of factors to allow the user to see and move them all in the wider areas of the screen
Combinations of spreads and locks are particularly interesting for various applications. Here are some examples:
  • Lock Names and Delete: By locking names and deletion, a set of initial factors can be saved as a file, sent to a group, and each group member can then add comments, place the factors wherever desired, add new factors, and send the results back. This can then be fused to augment the original factors with new ones and add considerations to existing factors from the group. This is especially useful in starting a decision among several people so that everyone knows that their issues are being considered.
  • Center X, Lock X, Spread Y Full, Lock Names: This takes a set of factors and centers them (neutralizes favorability), spreading them from top to bottom (importance). When the user moves one up or down, it normalizes the spread to produce a prioritized list (top to bottom) of the importance of those factors to the decision. These can then be fused into a separate evaluation of favorability for each factor so that each person involved in a decision can see things from their own view of importance. By locking names, this can be saved as a file, sent to multiple users, who can then set their values, return the updated saved files, and these can then be fused for voting taking each individual view of importance into account.
  • Lock X, spread Y full, lock names and comments: This is used in one of our other applications (GWiz™) that automatically generates X (favorability) metrics and comments based on filling out of forms. The user can then download summaries of multiple companies. We also provide a locked names and centered locked Y so the importance can be ranked by the individual investors. Each investor can then fuse their importance with the favorability of each company, and view them side by side. They can also add their own factors to augment the automated analysis results. They can then also use group analysis to help decide on which alternative they want to invest in and justify the decision.

Another note:

    The use of AI methods for producing reports from the prompted we provide calls for user attention in several ways.

    One is that these reports can be further flavored by additional information. Our Psychometrics package produces output to support customizing these reports toward the personality of the recipient. This can be used to make a more compelling argument to the individual, or in the case of an organization, to the particulars of the organization. Similarly, you can produce emails, tweets, and postings for other media directed toward different or broader audiences.

    Another way that AI requires attention is the hokiness of some AI produced outputs. For example, if you tell the AI to trick the recipient into believing flying saucers were used to make this product, the AI might give the trick away in the text. The AI might also give lots of great reasons to do what you are trying to get done, but many of them might not actually be true in your case. Be careful to review and edit the outputs before use.

Your privacy: The way Decider works is that you run the program by downloading it from our server to your browser, and everything you enter stays with you (or whoever you give it to or takes it from you). It sends nothing you enter or it analyzes back to us.

Changes: We continue to update Decider to do lots of other interesting things and change the user interface as we learn more. This just details most of what you will find in the version available when this was written...

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