System Architecture: Strategy and Product Development for Complex Systems, First Edition

14.3 Decisions and Decision Support

According to R. Hoffman, the word “decide” comes from the Sanskrit word khid 'ati, meaning “to tear,” the Latin word cædare, meaning “to kill” or “cut down,” and also the Latin word decædare, which means “to cut through thoroughly.” [13] In contemporary English, a decision is “the passing of judgment on an issue under consideration” [14] or a purposeful selection from mutually exclusive alternatives. Decision making is “goal-directed behavior in the presence of options” [15] that culminates in one or more decisions. The key ideas in decision making are that there is a situation with multiple alternatives; a selection is made that separates the solution space; and there is some expected benefit that will be ...