Feelings are not facts! Facts are, well—facts. The facts are not influenced by how I feel. Facts are the truth, whether we like it or not. I understand that people don’t like facts and they may impact how they feel about themselves or events. But again, feelings are not facts!
I can see how things are getting mixed up in this world of feelings. It is like people seem to think that the stronger they believe something is true there is more evidence to support them. It drives me crazy!
When looking to solve a thorny problem I like to use an old military methodology:
Problem Statement: To determine…(state what the issue is that you are needing to solve).
Assumptions: These too are not facts. They are planning assumptions that you call out that may or may not be true. It could be how an organization my react to what you are proposing—but, you can’t ask them for their input. Another example of an assumption might be, that Federal Funding will continue at present levels for five years. We all know that would be an assumption!
Facts Bearing on the Problem: This is what we know and don’t know. They form the basis for making future recommendations. If you understand the facts they help you in framing and proposing solutions.
Options: These are the potential courses of action to solve the problem identified. No more than five at the maximum. I actually like three if you can limit the number. Here in this section you take the options one by one and list the pros and cons for each of the options. Call out the issues that make this course of action viable and you also identify the risks.
Discussion: In this section of your decision paper you discuss the options and the pros and cons of each explaining why one option is superior to the others. Remember one option you might have listed is to “do nothing.”
Recommendation: After a thorough examination of all your options you make a recommendation based on the Problem Statement, Assumptions, Facts, Options, and Discussion.
The other part of the quote above was about how perceptions are reality. This part I’ll agree with. I don’t have to like it because it starts to mix feelings with facts, but then that is an issue isn’t it!
