From Andrew Shead, Tulsa, Oklahoma, US
The interview with behavioural scientists Daniel Kahneman and Olivier Sibony described a system that seems similar to the trade-off studies, also known as figure of merit analysis, used by engineering teams to help reduce bias and arrive at an optimal decision (19 June, p 40).
A trade-off study solicits individual opinions of several subject-matter experts in isolation, with the results compiled into a cost-benefit matrix that can then be reduced to a score for each of the competing options. Each expert is ignorant of the opinion of the others surveyed.
Every trade-off study results in a document that describes the process and the winning solution. It isn’t perfect, but it does help reduce the effects of group-think and domineering personalities.
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