Episode #2: To decide or to be unable to decide?

Emre* was a 30-year-old talented photographer who knew how to freeze moments of nature which were as alive as life itself. He had a dream; to host an exhibition. One day, a reputable gallery offered him an opportunity: "Emre, we have an open slot a month from now; you can showcase your work here..."

*Emre is a fictional character.

Have you ever stood in front of a burger chain and thought, "Hmmm, what do I have?" unable to decide for minutes? Or when you are at the mall, or food court, overwhelmed by all that there is to get- you know the options are many. Or let's put it the other way. Think of Netflix. Have you ever noticed just how much time is spent figuring out what to watch, most of the time I do :), but anyway. So, we try to analyze each and every option in full detail. Yeah, we encounter these all the time in our daily lives, but what happens when it comes to work? In the business world, we refer to this as Analysis Paralysis.

In the previous episode, I mentioned something that some people refer to as the perfect trap, over-optimization. This involves our business efforts to perfect a solution, which eventually distracts us from our goal. Similarly, another manifestation of the perfectionism trap is Analysis Paralysis, but this time, it reaches a much wider audience. Instead, here we break the flow of a decision by over-analyzing an issue rather than over-optimizing. In the end, we reach a point where we cannot choose anymore.

What is Analysis Paralysis?

... Emre was excited and jumped at this opportunity. Now he had to decide which of his pictures he was to show. He had thousands in his archive, and each one of them special to him. He wanted to show only the best. So he started reviewing each photograph closely, its light, composition, and emotion. He had chosen 100 photos on the first day. He had reduced them to 50 photos the following day. But indecision stepped in, as on the third day he went back to all those photos again...

Analysis paralysis is the state of being unable to decide from analyzing too much. In this situation, teams (or individuals) put so much effort into examining every detail of the process, and at the end of the process making a decision becomes difficult. Over-analyzing stops us from taking action and results in wasted time on projects, inefficient resource usage, and lost opportunities. Especially in business processes requiring swift decisions, this situation can lead to severe consequences.

What Causes Analysis Paralysis?

... Time was running out. Two weeks before the exhibition, Emre still hadn't made his choices. His friends offered their help, but he wanted to make the decisions on his own. "It should be perfect; this is the work of my life," he kept saying. As the week of the exhibition was approaching, he got a call from the gallery: "Emre, we need the details of the posters and promotions urgently. Have you made your selection?" In panic, Emre went back to his collection and could not choose which of the photos were the best...

We often have to face this syndrome, especially in the following situations:

1. If there are too many parameters to be considered and each of them has to be analyzed separately,
2. When the decisions to be taken in the future are under increasing risks and uncertainties,
3. When nobody wants to make mistakes in strategic decisions,
4. In case of different points of view exist in the team,
5. And finally, with more data available, the potential for analysis paralysis increases.

How to Avoid it?

... On the day of the exhibition, Emre's preparations were unfinished. The gallery had to fill in that slot and had to feature another artist. Emre sat and watched his dream slip through his fingers; he realized now that in his quest for perfection, he had achieved nothing. This experience taught Emre a valuable lesson: sometimes the best decision made in time is "good enough." He knew he shouldn't let analysis paralysis delay his dreams and took action.

Following are some of the main steps to overcome analysis paralysis:

1. Simplify your goals. We only need certain goals; that way, we know which information we truly need. When all decision processes are based on clear goals, the analysis becomes faster and more efficient.

1. Time is money, guys. The fact that one can set a time limit to each stage of analysis can be quite useful: "We'll work on this topic for only 2 hours, and then we'll make a decision." That's it.
2. In many cases, you can't reach 100% certainty about the business decisions. So, you can apply rules like 80-20 or Bezos' %70 rule.
3. Instead of trying to analyze all options, you can simplify the decision-making process and narrow your focus to just a few viable alternatives.
4. Decision-making can be tough when it is in large projects or if the level at which decisions are taken is strategic. That's where taking decisions in smaller steps makes such processes manageable.

"Most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70 percent of the information you wish you had…if you wait for 90 percent, in most cases, you’re probably being slow." – Jeff Bezos

Conclusion

Analysis paralysis is a trap that shows up in every area, from daily to the business. An effort toward making a perfect decision sometimes results in complete indecision. Particularly in strategic decisions, taking actions with the right amount of analysis may be the key to competitive advantage. Success on both personal and corporate fronts calls for clarifying goals, limiting analysis time, and taking calculated risks.

Keep in mind, sometimes the best decision is the one that's 'good enough.

Until next,

Eser