Appendix E
Summary of Core Questions
d
page number
Why are we here? What decisions have to be analyzed and made? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
What are the appropriate geographic and organizational scales for this
12
decision?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13
What is the appropriate time scale for this analysis? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
14
What criteria will be used to solve problems in this situation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
15
Whoshouldbeinvolved? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What special features or constraints will influence how you proceed? . . . . . . . . . . . 16
16
What legal obligations should be integrated in the process?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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17
How do you plan to proceed through this decision?
PROCESS Core Questions
Question 1
Question 2
Question
Question
Question
Question
Question
Question
3
4
5
6
7
8
PROBLEM Core Questions
page number
‘-
Situation Description
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
What do you know about the area, organization, or situation for which
this decision will be made? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What management activities are now going on or have gone on in the
areaorsituation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What natural or human-caused disturbances, patterns, trends, or other
uncertain events are important in this situation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What goals, objectives, or strategic directions have been set for this area
or organizational unit? How might these affect how you solve problems
here? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What are the most important problems, opportunities, or public issues
that characterize this area? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
25
26
27
28
29
Problem Analysis
Question 6
Question 7
Question 8
Question 9
Question
Question
Question
Question
10
11
12
13
What problems or opportunities should be addressed with a new or
revised management action? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What different perspectives of this problem or opportunity are held by
different stakeholders?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What is the cause of this problem or opportunity7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What components or attributes of the situation are of most concern or
offer the most opportunity for improvement? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What measures are used to characterize these attributes?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What values of each measure must be achieved to solve the problems? . . . . . . . . . .
Is there a need for action to resolve this problem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What evidence do you have to justify action? How strong is that
evidence? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
30
30
30
32
32
32
34
34
Information Assessment
Question 14
Question 15
What are the important gaps in knowledge that keep you from
understanding and evaluating problems in this situation?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What information is most needed to close these knowledge gaps? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
d Objectives Setting
Question 16
What are your objectives in solving this problem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
115
36
36
38
DESIGN Core Questions
page number
Alternatives Assessment
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
What is the current or status quo management action? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What is the no-action alternative? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What, if any, actions have already been proposed? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
44
44
44
Alternatives Design
Question 4
Question 5
Question 6
Question 7
What activities will accomplish specific objectives? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
45
What stakeholders-public groups, organizations, consultative agencies,
and individuals-have an interest in these activities? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
How do the activities compare on their ability to meet objectives, cost,
side effects, and other criteria? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
47
What alternative actions (combinations of activities) could solve the
problem (accomplish all objectives)?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Refinement
Question 8
Question 9
Question 10
Question 11
Question 12
What activities do you want to refine? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 0
What refinements could improve the design of the alternative? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 0
What consequence monitoring will be needed to implement these
activities? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
How do the refinements compare on their ability to meet objectives, cost,
sideeffects,andothercriteria? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D~.~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Which of the refinements will you include in the final set of alternative
actions?..........................................................
51
Alternatives Comparison
Question 13
Question 14
. ..
How do the refined alternative actions, the status quo, and the no-action
alternatives compare? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
How might you combine features of the alternatives into a hybrid action
that could outperform those in the existing set? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CONSEQUENCES Core Questions
53
53
page number
Information and Uncertainty Evaluation
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
What information is available to help characterize and predict
consequences?...........................................~...~~...~5 8
How certain (confident) are you that this information is a good basis for
accurately predicting consequences? . D. . 000* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
59
What are important gaps in knowledge for predicting consequences?. . . . . . . . . . . D 5 9
What uncertain events could confound your predictions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S60
What information is worth acquiring to improve your predictions? What
woulditcost? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Measures and Limits Analysis
Question 6
Question 7
What measures will you use to characterize and predict the
consequences of the alternative actions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2
What are acceptable consequences on these measures?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3
Cause-Effect Analysis
Question 8
What are the cause-effect relationships between the consequence
measures, the activities, and other influences? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
116
65
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page number
CONSEQUENCES Core Questions (contd.)
Consequences Prediction
Question 9
u
Question 10
Question 11
How will the values of the measures change if the alternative action is
implemented? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...+ . 67
Which predicted values exceed acceptable levels? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Should the alternative be refined or eliminated from further
consideration because of unacceptable consequences? How should it be
reflned?..........................................................
67
page number
ACTION Core Questions
Alternatives Comparison
Question 1
How do the alternatives compare in meeting the objectives and
minimizing negative consequences? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . , . . . . 7 4
Assumptions
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
What are the most critical assumptions in your comparison? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6
How would your ranking of the alternatives change if the assumptions
were different?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
76
What additional information will you (or the deciding officer) need to
more fully compare the alternatives and choose one?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
76
Stakeholder Appraisal
Question 5
How will stakeholders respond to the alternatives? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
77
Composite Action Design
Question 6
d
How might you combine features of the alternatives into an action that
would outperform the existing alternatives?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
78
Choice Rationale
Question
Question
Question
Question
7
8
9
10
What
What
What
What
alternative action do you prefer? Why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
keeps you from selecting each of the other alternatives? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
do you give up (trade off) by selecting the alternative you did? . . . . . . . . . . . .
aspects of the selected action are negotiable? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
79
79
79
79
What must be done to ensure that the action will be implemented?. . . . . . . . . . . . .
What stipulations or conditions will be necessary for partners, users,
andothers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Who are the key players in making this action accomplish its objectives
andbesuccessful?
..................................................
What could go wrong during the implementation of this action? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
How will you monitor the action to see that its activities are
implemented? (implementation monitoring) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
How will you monitor the action to determine whether the activities will
have the consequences you predicted? (consequence monitoring). . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
How will you document and record this action so that future teams can
learn from its successes and failures? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
81
Implementation
Question 11
Question 12
Question 13
Question 14
Question 15
Question 16
Question 17
117
81
81
83
84
84
84