Decision‐Making and Problem Solving

The field of decision‐making is one where some level of awareness is beneficial to everyone involved in technology development. This chapter aims to provide a start point for study of this field. In principle, any significant decision should be made on the basis of a cost‐benefit analysis. It needs to be noted that the human mind is susceptible to all sorts of biases and fallacies which may obstruct logical thought, especially on complex issues. Statistical thinking is certainly the case that technology and engineering work will generate data sets in various circumstances to which classic statistical methods can readily be applied. Problem solving and decision‐making are closely linked. Fortunately, there are some very straightforward methods of helping the process of solving problems. Teoriya Resheniya Izobreatatelskikh Zadach (TRIZ) method is aimed at finding innovative solutions to problems where the root cause is largely understood.