Courses of action

       This post is about conventional wisdom, developed over history. It applies whether one is reacting, or acting. Now if one is in a hurry, like a crisis, then having an established "playbook" provides a lot of advantages.

            Basically, one should have the discipline to consider three courses of action in response to any problem, be it political,  economic,  military, engineering, or whatever. Courses of action (C/A) 1 and 2 will probably be similar, while C/A #3 must be clearly different.  Then all three are presented to the decision maker, and that should help them make a good decision. Even this process helps when developing a playbook to be used when time is of the essence.

            Hopefully most decision makers have the time and foresight to act, vice react.  That's one sign of a good leader.

            Now even at GaTech when doing engineering work, one might even consider a C/A #4, like a no constraints solution and assumptions, and just to say we thought of that, too. Depending on the situation, that C/A might help the decision maker, too.

            Just two examples...a political one and a military one.

            Given some social problem, one can consider C/A's that involve government trying to influence the outcome with laws that shape events. Think of this as C/A's #1 and #2, both with variations.  C/A #3 might be more a royalty or dictatorial method. Then the decision maker has better information needed to make a good decision that provides a high prospect of achieving its goals. 

            Using trip flares is my military example. One can do a pyro version, a chem light version, or even a pebbles in a can version. In all cases, the mission is common...security.
             

            Anyway, just an idea and reminder.