What's the Problem?
Resource management and investment decisions are
characterized by:
Complexity and Uncertainty – multiple objectives and
stakeholders, overlapping jurisdictions, short and long term
effects, cumulative effects and high levels of uncertainty
Difficult Judgments – including both subjective
technical judgments made by experts about the potential
consequences of proposed alternatives, and difficult value-based
judgments made by decision makers about priorities, preferences
and risk tolerances
High stakes – including economic, environmental,
social and political stakes – and, as a result – intense
scrutiny from technical public and political domains
Limited resources – a need to do more with less, often
on short timelines
Growing expectations - for quality, consistency and
transparency in decision making.
What is SDM?
An organized approach to identifying and evaluating
alternatives that focuses on engaging stakeholders, experts
and decision makers in productive decision-oriented analysis
and dialogue and that deals proactively with
complexity and judgment in decision making. It
provides a framework that becomes a decision-focused roadmap
for integrating activities related to planning, analysis and
consultation.
A set of core steps, guiding principles, and
structuring tools based on the principles and practices
of applied decision analysis.
Practical methods that combine what we know about how
decisions should be made with the realities of how
decisions are made.
A proactive response to expectations for:
- Science-based decisions
- Meaningful stakeholder involvement
- Transparency and accountability in decision making.
What are the Benefits?
Quality and Defensibility
- Best practices in decision making
- Getting both the facts and the values right
- Integrating rigorous analysis and thoughtful
deliberation
Transparency and Accountability
- A road map (where are we going?)
- An audit trail (how did we get here?)
- Making explicit judgments and taking responsibility for
them
Efficiency
- Timely decisions within resource and capacity
constraints
- Upfront investment in structuring
- Downstream payoff in streamlined decisions and broad
support
Relationship Building
- Meaningful involvement of stakeholders
- Trust and collaboration among joint decision makers
- Decision making at the appropriate level
Learning and Capacity Building
- Dealing systemically with uncertainty
- Designing-in flexibility to respond to new information
- Building capacity for future decisions
On-ground Results
- Meeting core objectives
- Gaining support
- Sustainable solutions
Want to learn more? Take a look at some typical SDM process
Steps, or browse through some specific
Applications. |
Make decisions: