CONSULTING
Better decisions in complex situations
I translate scientifically grounded Decision Analysis into real decisions in business, public institutions and policy: clarifying the objectives that truly matter, weighing alternatives and trade-offs transparently, and justifying decisions under uncertainty. This work builds on proven methods from the decision sciences and behavioural economics — systematically developed, scientifically tested and refined for practice.
RECOGNITION
Recognised decision practice
INFORMS
Three-time finalist for the Practice Award of the Decision Analysis Society
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
SDP
Inspirational Achievement Award for contribution to decision analysis practice
Society of Decision Professionals
APPROACH
How I work
My consulting follows the decision process itself — from the first clarification of objectives to a well-founded, transparent decision.
Structure objectives
Working out what really matters: identifying the relevant objectives, removing redundancies and making them visible in a transparent objectives network (Value-Focused Thinking).
Weigh alternatives
Weighing alternatives and trade-offs transparently — with multi-criteria methods (MAUT/MCDA) and portfolio prioritisation, including under uncertainty.
Ensure decision quality
Safeguarding decision quality and preparing decisions so they are justified, communicated and supported — in reviews, executive workshops and facilitation.
SELECTED PRACTICE PROJECTS
Decision science in action
From corporate portfolios to public administration to security policy — however different the clients, the underlying task is much the same: to structure a difficult decision and make it defensible. The common denominator is not the industry, but the decision itself.
PUBLIC SECTOR · USA
Project prioritisation at the California Department of Transportation
Through its SHOPP programme, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) invests around USD 2.3 billion a year in highways and bridges. Together with Ralph L. Keeney, I advised Caltrans on prioritising these projects transparently: deriving fundamental objectives from its strategic goals and recommending measures and value trade-offs as the basis for a transparent evaluation model.
ENERGY · EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT
Objectives system of a large energy provider
After the accelerated nuclear phase-out, a large European energy provider had to realign its strategy. Together with Ralph L. Keeney, I identified around 450 objectives in interviews with the executive board, the chair of the supervisory board and key staff, and structured them into an objectives network — condensed onto a single page.
PHARMA · PORTFOLIO
Portfolio prioritisation at Bayer AG
A large pharmaceutical portfolio had to be prioritised under competing objectives and scarce resources. The basis was a Value-Focused-Thinking-based evaluation and prioritisation method that measures projects transparently against weighted objectives — producing a defensible ranking across the entire portfolio.
SECURITY · POLICY
Objectives analysis for security-policy decision support
For the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) — commissioned by General Nagata (Special Operations Command Central) — Detlof von Winterfeldt, Ali Abbas, Richard John and I identified the objectives of the so-called Islamic State from publicly available sources and structured them into an objectives hierarchy, to support better-founded security-policy decisions.
FURTHER PROJECTS
Balanced Scorecard with Value-Focused Thinking
Developed for a mid-sized media company (with Reinhard Kunz and Joschka Mütterlein): a Balanced Scorecard that captures objectives and their relationships systematically and lets you zoom to any depth of the means-ends network.
Method-based decision support in production logistics
In the “empower” collaborative project, I led the identification and structuring of the objectives — as the basis for a decision-support concept to improve efficiency in small and medium-sized enterprises.
RESEARCH ↔ PRACTICE
Practice that feeds back into research
As co-editor of special issues on applied decision analysis, I connect practice and research within the scientific community as well.
2023
Special Issue on Decision Analysis — INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics 53(3)
2019
Special Issue on MCDA Practice — Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis 26(3–4)
2016
Special Issue on MCDA Practice — Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis 23(5–6)
TOOLS & COLLABORATION
From the tool to the engagement
DECISION SUPPORT
Entscheidungsnavi
For transparent modelling of objectives, alternatives and consequences I use the Entscheidungsnavi — including in executive sessions, where preferences and trade-offs are made visible.
COLLABORATION
Discuss a project
For concrete consulting projects, executive workshops and training, Proaktiv Entscheiden bundles my practice offerings — the direct route to discussing a decision project.