Some time ago, two of us (Kahneman and Sibony), together with our friend Dan Lovallo, described a method of decision making in organizations. We called the method, which was designed with noise mitigation as a primary objective, the mediating assessments protocol. It incorporates most of the decision hygiene strategies that we have introduced in the preceding chapters. The protocol can be applied broadly and whenever the evaluation of a plan or an option requires considering and weighting multiple dimensions. It can be used, and adapted in various ways, by organizations of all kinds, including diverse companies, hospitals, universities, and government agencies.
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Main steps of the mediating assessments protocol
- At the beginning of the process, structure the decision into mediating assessments. (For recurring judgments, this is done only once.)
- Ensure that whenever possible, mediating assessments use an outside view. (For recurring judgments: use relative judgments, with a case scale if possible.)
- In the analytical phase, keep the assessments as independent of one another as possible.
- In the decision meeting, review each assessment separately.
Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment - Kahneman, Sibony, Sunstein