Have you ever watched a medical drama with scenes featuring doctors making split second, life-or-death decisions? As software professional, there may be less at stake when it comes to your decisions, yet you often need to act under time pressure, limited information, and conditions of uncertainty. How do you decide whether a particular course of action will help or harm your project? Are you rational: Do you identify, weigh and compare your options? Or are your decisions more intuitive: Do you size up the situation quickly and simply “know” how to act? Are you aware that—as a human being—your decisions are often susceptible to systematic biases? Through examples drawn from both the medical profession and his work as a software tester, Iain explores alternative decision-making models, the role of intuition, the cultivation of expertise, and debiasing decisions. Join Iain for a mind-blowing dive into how people make choices despite looming uncertainty and potentially dire consequences of a mistake.

1.
BW9
Concurrent Session
11/13/2013 3:45 PM
"A Mind-Blowing Exploration on
How to Make Better Decisions"
Presented by:
Iain McCowatt
Barclays
Brought to you by:
340 Corporate Way, Suite 300, Orange Park, FL 32073
888‐268‐8770 ∙ 904‐278‐0524 ∙ sqeinfo@sqe.com ∙ www.sqe.com

2. Iain McCowatt
Barclays
Iain McCowatt is a software testing expert whose experience and passion
for testing spans multiple industries and more than a decade. Iain
specializes in helping client organizations solve difficult testing problems on
large and complex enterprise IT projects. In this role, his greatest revelation
in recent years is that the single most important contributor to success or
failure is people—in particular how they think and react to problems.
Therefore, Iain is dedicated to better understanding how we make
decisions—and what can get in the way. Iain is active in the software
testing community, serves as a volunteer instructor with the Association of
Software Testing, and blogs at exploringuncertainty.com.

3. 9/9/13
A
Mind-­‐Blowing
Explora6on:
How
to
Make
Be<er
Decisions
©
Can
Stock
Photo
Inc.
/
frenta
Iain
McCowa<
h<p://exploringuncertainty.com
iain@exploringuncertainty.com
@imccowa<
imccowa<
Introduc6on
Melissa’s
story
Ge#y
Images
1

4. 9/9/13
Introduc6on
Fast
Effortless
Unconscious
More
suscep6ble
to
bias
David
Plunkert,
New
York
Times
Slow
Hard
Conscious
Less
suscep6ble
to
bias
Introduc6on
How
do
you
make
decisions?
Flikr/Daniel
Dale
2

5. 9/9/13
System
2:
Analy6cal
Reasoning
Op6ons
• Iden6fy
Op6ons
• Iden6fy
Criteria
Criteria
• Weight
Criteria
Scoring
Decide
• Score
Op6ons
• Select
Highest
Scoring
Op6on
System
1:
Intui6on
Mental
Models
Situa6on
using
your
generates
Mental
Simula6on
which
you
assess
by
Ac6on
Ac6on
Scripts
Scripts
to
affect
the
Cues
that
you
recognize
as
that
ac6vate
Pa<erns
Recogni6on
Primed
Decision
Making
(Klein)
3

6. 9/9/13
From
Intui6on
to
Analysis:
Explica6ng
Cues
Meanwhile,
back
at
the
NICU…
From
Analysis
to
Intui6on:
Teaching
Intui6on
Cardio
triage
in
a
Michigan
ER
4

7. 9/9/13
Boos6ng
Your
Intui6ve
Exper6se
Understand
the
decision
requirements
of
your
role
Istockphoto/Onur
Döngel
Boos6ng
Your
Intui6ve
Exper6se
Learn
the
cues:
indica6ons
&
contraindica6ons
5

8. 9/9/13
Boos6ng
Your
Intui6ve
Exper6se
Study
mental
models:
choose,
invent,
adapt
Boos6ng
Your
Intui6ve
Exper6se
Prac6ce,
and
play
decision
making
games
6

9. 9/9/13
Boos6ng
Your
Intui6ve
Exper6se
Get
(the
right
kind
of)
feedback
The
Last
Word
7

10. 9/9/13
Ques6ons?
Iain
McCowa<
h<p://exploringuncertainty.com
iain@exploringuncertainty.com
@imccowa<
imccowa<
Further
Reading
Bazerman,
M.H.
(2005).
Judgment
in
Managerial
Decision
Making.
Croskerry,
P.
(2009).
A
Universal
Model
for
DiagnosIc
Reasoning.
Gigerenzer,
G.
(2008).
Gut
Feelings.
Groopman,
J.
(2007).
How
Doctors
Think.
Kahneman,
D.
and
Klein,
G.
(2009).
CondiIons
for
IntuiIve
ExperIse:
A
Failure
to
Disagree.
Klein,
G.
(1999).
Sources
of
Power:
How
People
Make
Decisions.
Klein,
G.
(2003).
The
Power
of
IntuiIon.
McCowa<,
I.
(2012).
The
Validity
of
the
TesIng
Environment.
McCowa<,
I.
(2012).
Doctor,
Doctor.
Simon,
H.
(1956).
RaIonal
Choice
and
the
Structure
of
the
Environment.
8