Augmented decision-making

Here are five simple steps to adopt a more strategic approach to data and intelligence enriched decision-making:

1. Start by discovering key decisions. These are usually tied with some end goal, result, or outcome, so consider them too.
2. Then define the insights you need. What do you need to know in order to make an informed decision? What must be true in order for that decision to lead to desired results?
3. Next, identify and connect the required data across your decision-process. Since now we know what insight we are looking for, we can link various data sources across the organisation. Do note that I mean data in the broadest sense, not just some bits and bytes on computer drives.
4. Monitor the impact of your decisions on business results. Expected results were a guess—an informed one, but still a guess. We must monitor if our decisions actually lead to expected results. If not, then we must adjust.
5. Create an augmentation culture. Above processes should be repeated for each decision, allowing us to augment—improve and enhance—existing decision-making processes over time.

Should you be interested to learn more about above, then I recommend the Augmented Strategy book in which we address how to (i) make better business decisions, (ii) improve strategy and likelihood of winning in the market, and (iii) leverage all the data we have in the organisation.