Structured Decision Making Workshop - Observers and Mentees

Target Audience:

Only observers/mentees should register using this course code.

Summary and Objectives:

The goal of these workshops is to develop applications of structured decision making for real, applied FWS problems that are local in scope and in the process increase capacity in structured decision-making expertise within the FWS and USGS. The current array of examples mostly consists of large-scale, contentious problems, and falsely conveys the ideas that structured decision making is only for the big problems. Rapid prototyping techniques are used during the workshops to demonstrate that structured decision techniques are equally applicable to the everyday decisions made at the field office level, and to provide experiential opportunities to increase expertise of FWS and USGS staff. Participants in the workshop include individuals who will be participating in a variety of roles including those of apprentice, coordinator, subject matter expert, technical expert, and/or observer, depending on the personal skills and goals of each team. Since the workshops are geared towards experiential learning they will combine i problem definition, building influence diagrams, model development and optimization.

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

Each case study will have a structured decision making "coach" and "apprentice coach" assigned to work with the team prior, during, and following the workshop. The apprentice coach will learn structuring methods by working in tandem with the structured decision making coach to direct the teams work and develop expertise. During the workshop coaches will both mentor the apprentices and provide advice to the team coordinator and team to focus the question, and to ensure the problem is likely to be tractable. Team coordinators, apprentices, and team, with guidance from the consultant, will lead exercises to deconstruct and analyze the decision, developing whatever approaches appear appropriate. Team coordinators will document their case studies by the end of the workshop in short summary, following a standard template. Case studies from this workshop will be posted online at a NCTC website.

Competencies Addressed: 

Decision Support - Basic, Self-Management - Intermediate, Oral Communication - Basic