Decisionology 101: What is a decision
As data product managers, we live and breath decisions. But what exactly is a decision?
Decisions are what data products are all about. While it is in the outcomes where the value of our work shows up, that’s not where we operate.
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As data practitioners, we work in data, we measure actions, and we influence decisions.
It is in the decisions where our work lives. We all know what a decision is, don’t we?
Having a definition of `decision` will come in handy as we dive deeper into how to build data products that customers love. Later on, we’ll then talk about how to improve those decisions.
This is not an academic exercise. Having this concept pristine and sharp enables us to better understand the value of our products and, as data product managers, to hone in on what exactly we should be building.
Decisions are about Tradeoffs
A `decision` is a selection between more than one option.
Two facts are implied:
More than one option is available to us (even if we’re unaware of all or any of them)
Each option has a “benefit” and a “cost” (however large or small)
“Wait, what about when there is only one option available?”
Then there isn’t really a decision to make.
“Well, you could choose to not take that option.”
Then there is more than one option available.
Good Decisions
Selecting between the various options comes with tradeoffs.
Making good decisions is about considering the tradeoffs and choosing the option that is best for us. What constitutes “best,” is a rich topic of discussion for Data Product Management; but, intuitively, it is whichever option gets us the most ideal balance of cost and benefit. i.e. the most amount of benefit at a cost we can live with.
The idea of “good” and “bad” decisions implies the existence of goals, although often they are not stated explicitly.
Excellent Data Product Management brings together: Clear goals; a way to measure them; the ability to identify options; and mechanisms for determining which one is best given the context.
By the way, it’s not our goals that we’re referring to here, but our customers’ goals!
There are many factors that make decisions hard to make. The best data products are the ones that make those decisions easier and/or better and are hyper-aware of the context.
Good decisions depend on context
What makes a decision “good” is heavily dependent on context:
The availability of the options can change as the context changes
The cost and value of each option is heavily dependent on the context in which the decision are being considered.
Two important takeaways from this:
The more deeply we understand the context within which our customers (aka the end-users of our data products) are operating and making decisions, the more effective we become at designing and building great data products that they love
In life, if we don’t like our options, one of the most powerful moves is to change the context.
Til next time
Ricky