Multiple-criteria, multiple-options — remix

The Program–It is finished.

The program is complete, working, tested, and ready for public consumption. There are a number of great places to put open source projects for public use. I chose Google code since I am familiar with some of Google’s other tools and software.

Right now I am fighting with the software that creates the setup installation program. And I expect to win this fight shortly, in a  day or two.

The following introductory material explains what is meant by a multiple-criteria, multiple-option decision. Other places in this blog contain similar information. The following is also on my wiki page for this program.

Introduction

Simple decisions are hard enough to make. And sometimes more options don’t make us feel better, rather worse. The decision process becomes exponentially complex. And to add more criteria by which to measure the options — that just makes our heads hurt.

That is where the multiple-criteria, multiple-option decision analysis (MCMODA) tool can greatly help.

This site has the program you can run on a Windows computer. (Apologies to Mac owners. I am not so fortunate as to own a Mac. Wish I did.)

First, a simple decision method for comparison.

First, lets look at simpler decisions and go from there. Many of our choices are simply picking one option among many options. There are several methods for doing this; relying on gut reaction is the most common practice.

A more rational method would probably lead to better results. So we use a binary elimination.

1. To do this, we pile the options up like cards.
2. Then we pick any two options and examine them.
3. We toss one option aside and keep the other option for later.
4. When we finish the first pass, we pick up the keep pile and proceed through it in the same manner as we did the first.
5. This leaves us with a much smaller keep pile.
6. And we continue this over and over, until there is only one option left.

This method uses only one criterion by which to measure all the options. Often our criterion is simply a fuzzy feeling of this I like and that I don’t like.

If we only have options to sift through and select, the process is fairly straight forward.

Now to complicate our decision

What happens if we still have a good number of options, but we then add several criteria? And possibly, some criteria are more important than others.

Let’s take a more complex decision. We have two weeks of forced vacation upcoming. What do we do? First, the options:

• Take a cruise
• Take a closer vacation to the beach or mountains or lake
• Visit some relatives
• Work on finishing that boat in our garage so we can go fishing
• Work for a friend’s business and make some money
• Finish that big home maintenance job and make the family happy

All of those options are worthy goals. But the choice is not so simple as we would like because we have many, competing criteria. So here are the criteria. Each must be stated in a positive way as a group. That is, since we are counting points, the most points wins for each item. But more on this restriction later.

• Which will cost me the least (or put the most money in my pocket)?
• Which is something that more people in the family would like rather than only one or two individuals?
• Which would take the least time to get to and from, to avoid wasted travel time that takes away from our fun time?
• Which is the easiest to do, at hand?

This is called a multiple-criteria, multiple-option decision. The above can be worked out on paper in 15 minutes or so. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could just type in those things, and let the computer assist me to analyze the choice faster and also show the close second and third place options?

That is the reason for the program.

A little history (snooze time)

Over 25 years ago, this method was presented in a conference as a standard decision making method. It was all paper-based. But for decision that had expensive consequences, the time was more than worth the effort. But the paper-based method became more cumbersome as more options and criteria were added.

Then also many years ago, some very important decisions came up that required some careful thought, especially those related to jobs, moving the family, and other life decisions. Paper and pencil weren’t adequate.

I created the first program from a primitive form of Basic. Later, Microsoft Access became available. With some VBA programming and a little work, a simple MCMO program was created. And this program was used through many versions of Access. The program was useful and helped me in many situations.

On this website, http://thethirdway.org, some blogs discussed a variety of decision methods and even provided some spreadsheets to help. It was the MCMO spreadsheet that generated the most interest.

I am not happy with that spreadsheet. Yes, it worked, but definitely not user friendly. It was only a stepping stone to something better and easier to use. So I wrote the program.

Following up

The program should be ready for your consumption within a day or two of this blog. After getting the program out to you, I will provide some sample runs, illustrations, and instructions on how to use it. Any comments regarding the program itself can be made here or at the Google code site.

Have a great day!