Business Decision Mapping
Encyclopedia
Business Decision Mapping (BDM) is a technique for making decisions
, particularly for the kind of decisions that often need to be made in business
. It involves using diagrams to help articulate and work through the decision problem
, from initial recognition of the need through to communication of the decision and the thinking behind it.
BDM is designed for use in making deliberative decisions - those made based on canvassing and weighing up the arguments. It is also qualitative - although numbers may be involved, the main considerations are qualitatively specified and there is no calculation-based route to the right decision. In these two key elements, BDM is similar to the natural or typical way of making decisions.
However, it differs from typical, informal decision making
by providing a structured, semi-formal framework, and using visual language, taking advantage of our ability to grasp and make sense of information faster and more easily when it is graphically presented.
BDM is centered on the creation of a decision map - a single diagram that brings together in one organized structure all the fundamental elements of a decision, and that functions as a focus of collaboration.
BDM aims to support the decision process, making it easier, more reliable and more accountable. It addresses some major problems that can afflict business decision making the way it is generally done, including stress, anxiety, time pressure, lost thinking and inefficiency. By mapping the decision problem, the options, the arguments and all relevant evidence visually using BDM, the decision maker can avoid holding a large amount of information in his or her head, is able to make a more complete and transparent analysis and can generate a record of the thinking behind the final decision.
Decision making
Decision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.- Overview :Human performance in decision terms...
, particularly for the kind of decisions that often need to be made in business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
. It involves using diagrams to help articulate and work through the decision problem
Decision problem
In computability theory and computational complexity theory, a decision problem is a question in some formal system with a yes-or-no answer, depending on the values of some input parameters. For example, the problem "given two numbers x and y, does x evenly divide y?" is a decision problem...
, from initial recognition of the need through to communication of the decision and the thinking behind it.
BDM is designed for use in making deliberative decisions - those made based on canvassing and weighing up the arguments. It is also qualitative - although numbers may be involved, the main considerations are qualitatively specified and there is no calculation-based route to the right decision. In these two key elements, BDM is similar to the natural or typical way of making decisions.
However, it differs from typical, informal decision making
Decision making
Decision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.- Overview :Human performance in decision terms...
by providing a structured, semi-formal framework, and using visual language, taking advantage of our ability to grasp and make sense of information faster and more easily when it is graphically presented.
BDM is centered on the creation of a decision map - a single diagram that brings together in one organized structure all the fundamental elements of a decision, and that functions as a focus of collaboration.
BDM aims to support the decision process, making it easier, more reliable and more accountable. It addresses some major problems that can afflict business decision making the way it is generally done, including stress, anxiety, time pressure, lost thinking and inefficiency. By mapping the decision problem, the options, the arguments and all relevant evidence visually using BDM, the decision maker can avoid holding a large amount of information in his or her head, is able to make a more complete and transparent analysis and can generate a record of the thinking behind the final decision.
Related methodologies
Business Decision Mapping is related to:- Argument mapping, the graphical representation of the structure of an argument, often used in the teaching of reasoning and critical thinkingCritical thinkingCritical thinking is the process or method of thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is true, false, or sometimes true and sometimes false, or partly true and partly false. The origins of critical thinking can be traced in Western thought to the Socratic...
. - Dialogue mapping, a method for building shared understanding through a structured representation of group communication, developed by Jeff Conklin of the CogNexus Institute. Dialogue mapping and Business Decision Mapping use the 'grammar' of IBIS, a well-established methodology developed by Horst RittelHorst RittelHorst Willhelm Jakob Rittel was a German-born design theorist and university professor. He is best-known Horst Willhelm Jakob Rittel (* 14 July 1930 in Berlin, † 9 July 1990 in Heidelberg) was a German-born design theorist and university professor. He is best-known Horst Willhelm Jakob Rittel (*...
for tackling wicked problems. - Mind mapping, in which a diagram is used to structure and classify ideas by linking them radially around a central key word or idea. There are no formal restrictions on the type of links used.
- Minto Pyramid Principle, a process for organizing ideas in order to write compelling business documents, developed by Barbara Minto.
See also
- Argument mapping
- Critical thinkingCritical thinkingCritical thinking is the process or method of thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is true, false, or sometimes true and sometimes false, or partly true and partly false. The origins of critical thinking can be traced in Western thought to the Socratic...
- Decision makingDecision makingDecision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.- Overview :Human performance in decision terms...
- Decision making softwareDecision making softwareDecision-making software is a term integrating decision analysis tools to facilitate a person's decision-making process, which results in a choice of a course of action or a variant among several alternatives...
- Deliberative decisions
- Design rationaleDesign RationaleA Design Rationale is an explicit documentation of the reasons behind decisions made when designing a system or artifact. As initially developed by W.R...
- Horst RittelHorst RittelHorst Willhelm Jakob Rittel was a German-born design theorist and university professor. He is best-known Horst Willhelm Jakob Rittel (* 14 July 1930 in Berlin, † 9 July 1990 in Heidelberg) was a German-born design theorist and university professor. He is best-known Horst Willhelm Jakob Rittel (*...
- Mind mapping software
- Tim van GelderTim van GelderTim van Gelder was a founder of Austhink Software, an Australian software development company, and Managing Director of Austhink Consulting. He was born in Australia, educated at the University of Melbourne , the University of Pittsburgh , and held academic positions at Indiana University and the...
- Visual analyticsVisual analyticsVisual analytics is an outgrowth of the fields information visualization and scientific visualization, that focuses on analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual interfaces...
External links
- CogNexus Institute
- Minto Pyramid Principle
- The IBIS Manual: A Short Course in IBIS Methodology - a Touchstone Inc. Working Paper by Jeff Conklin