The thinker's toolkit : fourteen powerful techniques for problem solving

Have you had it with seat-of-the-pants decision making?The Thinker's Toolkit is an invaluable resource for every manager or professional—a unique collection of proven, practical methods for simplifying any problem and making faster, better decisions every time, including:• Problem Restatement: For relocating your point of view to bring new solutions into focus.• The Casual-Flow Diagram: For taking problems apart to find out what makes them tick.• Utility Analysis: For comparing things that are hard to compare (apples and oranges) and choosing the best alternative.Former CIA analyst Morgan Jones provides techniques that are easy to learn and easy to apply, requiring no more than a pencil and a legal pad. Armed with The Thinker's Toolkit, anyone in business can start making better decisions today—with immediate benefits to the bottom line.Morgan D. Jones discovered the analytical techniques used in The Thinker's Toolkit while serving as an intelligence analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency. He is the founder and president of Analytic Prowess, a consulting and training firm that shows managers how to apply advanced problem solving techniques to their businesses. Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Part 1: Why We Go Astray -- 1: Thinking About Thinking -- 2: Insights into Problem Solving -- Part 2: The Fourteen Tools -- 3: Problem Restatement -- 4: Pros-Cons-and-Fixes -- 5: Divergent/Convergent Thinking -- 6: Sorting, Chronologies, and Time Lines -- 7: Casual Flow Diagramming -- 8: The Matrix -- 9: The Scenario Tree -- 10: Weighted Rankings -- 11: Hypothesis Testing -- 12: Devil's Advocacy -- 13: The Probability Tree -- 14: The Utility Tree -- 15: The Utility Matrix -- 16: Advanced Utility Analysis -- Part 3: Where Do We Go from Here? -- 17: Your Next Steps -- Solutions to Exercises -- For Further Reading -- Notes -- Index. An invaluable resource for any manager or professional, this book offers a collection of proven, practical methods for simplifying any problem and making faster, better decisions every time.From the Hardcover edition. An invaluable resource for any manager or professional, this book offers a collection of proven, practical methods for simplifying any problem and making faster, better decisions every time. From the Hardcover edition