[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] Indexes: Main | Date | Thread | Author

Re: [ba-ohs-talk] IBIS question


Jeff,    (01)

I appreciate your advice on how to better use IBIS-as-is for my 
example problem. In fact, I probably
should have thought through my example a bit more before posting it 
to this community because the example most certainly has its flaws as 
I outlined it... on the other hand, I'm still not sure even with what 
I learned in the various responses that IBIS-as-is can represent what 
I (speaking only for myself) would like to represent.    (02)

>Anyway, in my experience IBIS is terrific for capturing the reasons for
>decisions.    (03)

I agree, that's why we put it into our product.    (04)

>   It's true that IBIS doesn't help you make a decision.  As Horst
>Rittel often pointed out, decision making is a social process, and is very
>context-dependent. In my experience there's no mechanism or trick for
>making real decisions, but that's another story.    (05)

I agree with that, too, but what I'm missing is a better way of 
documenting the relative merits of the reasons in favor or against a 
decision. In other words, why I made a decision in favor of Idea 1, 
as opposed to Idea 2 given that both had the same number of pros and 
the same number of cons, for example. (Let's just assume for a moment 
that I'm the only person in the picture, it's a single person 
decision rather than a group decision).    (06)

What I'd like to capture and document for reference purposes is 
something like "I think that the cons for Idea 1 are small compared 
to the 2nd con for Idea 2, and the pros of Idea 1 beat all pros of 
Idea 2."    (07)

So half a year later I, or whoever else after I was hit by the truck, 
can go back and say "ah, he thought Pro 12 had so many advantages 
that he chose to live with Con 34 -- well, that's not true any more 
because of changing conditions of some sort, and this was the crucial 
consideration that caused the decision to go in favor of Idea 1 as 
opposed to Idea 2. That probably means we have to reconsider ..."    (08)

Maybe my usage scenario for IBIS is a little different than 
originally intended -- not for facilitating group decision making, 
but for decision documentation.    (09)

Do I make sense?    (010)

Cheers,    (011)


Johannes Ernst
R-Objects Inc.    (012)