David Matheson's thought-provoking presentation at DAAG 2013 in the session "What does Decision Analytics mean for Decision Analysts?"

1. Decision Analytics as Embedded Decision
Analysis
David Matheson
President and CEO
SmartOrg, Inc.
1 © 2000-2013 SmartOrg. | Confidential and Proprietary.

2. Why is decision analysis not as prevalent as
accounting?
2 © 2000-2013 SmartOrg. | Confidential and Proprietary.

3. Our profession has a weak value proposition.
What we offer: good decisions What people want: result
The Goal—
Decision Quality
Infor-
mation
Alter-
Values
natives
DQ
Rea-
Frame
soning
Commit-
ment
3 © 2000-2013 SmartOrg. | Confidential and Proprietary.

4. Spam filtering is among the largest scale highest
impact applications of decision analysis
The Way Forward
The Way Forward Embedded Decision Analysis
4 © 2000-2013 SmartOrg. | Confidential and Proprietary.

5. Embedded Decision Analysis as Decision
Analytics
Dat
Da
otth tafro
ohe a fro
r yy m
erss m
sste
t em
mss
Project
System and
System and Management
process resting on
process resting on Prioritization,
Prioritization, Stage Gate
Decision Analysis
Decision Analysis Key metrics
Key metrics
foundations
foundations
from
a fro
ta
m
Da t ople
Da e ople Decision Processes:
pe
p Budgeting
Planning
Business
Activities Decision Analyst Advantages:
Knowledge of decision structure and human processes
Our systems do modeling and decision analysis
5 © 2000-2013 SmartOrg. | Confidential and Proprietary.

6. Embracing Decision Analytics by shifting our
thinking.
Before After
DA Consultant Embedded DA
Interventions Ordinary business process
Power tools for specialists Scalable tools for non-DA users
Decision Focused Learning Focused
One-time Iterative / ongoing
Expert judgment Consumes & provides data
Careful assessments Good enough assessments
Decision Analysis / DQ Role of DA/DQ in evaluation
Good Decisions Valuable Results
6 © 2000-2013 SmartOrg. | Confidential and Proprietary.

7. Embracing Decision Analytics by shifting our
thinking.
Before After
DA Consultant Embedded DA
Interventions Ordinary business process
Power tools for specialists Scalable tools for non-DA users
Decision Focused Learning Focused
One-time Iterative / ongoing
Expert judgment Consumes & provides data
Careful assessments Good enough assessments
Decision Analysis / DQ Role of DA/DQ in evaluation
Good Decisions Valuable Results
6 © 2000-2013 SmartOrg. | Confidential and Proprietary.