What if I said “yes” to this project today—what would happen? Would the outcomes be positive or negative? What are the possible impacts the decision would have on our business, our employees, and our bottom line? What if we launched this product in a month? When would we start making money? What would happen if the competition decided to launch a similar project a month later? It’d be great to have the answers to all these sorts of questions—but short of a crystal ball, none of us has the means to peer into tomorrow and provide an accurate forecast for what will or might be. Luckily, however, there are tools for analyzing what could happen, given various different types of variables. These tools, of course, are not foolproof. But they have proven to be surprisingly accurate and effective, which is why they’re used by businesses, universities, and even international aid organizations to imagine, plan, and manage risk. What If Chart/Decision Matrix What If Analysis uses a matrix-style chart to help you figure out what might happen in a particular situation if a particular issue arose or a particular questions were asked. For example, imagine that you are planning to go out to dinner with your team. Should you pick the Italian …
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What If? Tools for Analyzing Possible Management Outcomes
