As a follow up to my earlier post about Deliberation vs Procrastination, here is how Colin Powell made decisions while serving in the White House:
“We do not have the luxury of collecting information indefinitely. At some point, before we can have every possible fact in hand, we have to decide. The key is not to make quick decisions, but to make timely decisions.
I have a timing formula, P = 40 to 70, in which P stands for probability of success and the numbers indicate the percentage of information acquired. I don’t act if I have only enough information to give me less than a 40 percent chance of being right. And I don’t wait until I have enough facts to be 100 percent sure of being right, because by then it is almost always too late. I go with my gut feeling when I have acquired information somewhere in the range of 40 to 70 percent.”
BTW: the ability to rely on your “gut feeling” is determined by your experience in the area in which you are making a decision. More experience you have in the area, the more you can rely on that experience and reduce your need for more information. The less experience the more you need additional information – until it’s no longer about Deliberation but has become Procrastination.