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Criteria, Facts and Customers

Seek facts and keep assumptions to a minimum.

Agree you decision criteria before you begin debating the options. Keep you criteria crisp: usually growth, gross margin, capital needs, sustainability and timing. Non-profits use surplus rather than gross margin; government planners use budget, tax or bond revenue.

Keep a list of all assumptions. If a costly decision hangs on an assumption, then spend money to find out the facts.

Under the pressure to finish, don't abandon the criteria when there is little data. At the same time, don't seek perfect knowledge. You'll never get there. When the facts are skimpy, acknowledge it and move on.

The adage is "the customer doesn't know what they need, we have to teach them." Ask the customer about the desired outcomes, not their recommended solutions.