Some of the decision making techniques that we use in everyday life include

1. listing the advantages and disadvantages of each option, popularized by Benjamin Franklin
2. flipping a coin, cutting a deck of playing cards, and other random or coincidence methods
3. accepting the first option that seems like it might achieve the desired result
4. tarot cards, astrology, augurs, revelation, or other forms of divination
5. acquiesce to a person in authority or an "expert"
6. let us never forget the ultimate decision maker...rock, paper, scissors

Decision making in healthcare:

In the health care field, the steps of making a decision may be remembered with the mnemonic BRAND, which includes

1. Benefits of the action
2. Risks in the action
3. Alternatives to the prospective action
4. Nothing: that is, doing nothing at all
5. Decision

Path Dependency:

It is perhaps pertinent to note that the cost of making no decision at all itself is a factor, and that the benefit of making some decision, even a random choice, can be beneficial in the longer term. Thus the reversibility of an action may be a good way to judge whether or not an action or process is beneficial. A resource can also be viewed as something expendable, or bearing a cost, rather than the implication of selecting something irrevocably.

Even life and death decisions have been priced this way, as in the insurance industry.

Decision making in business.

Several decision making models for business include:

1. Decision trees, Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), critical path analysis, and critical chain analysis
2. Pareto Analysis
3. Paired Comparison Analysis
4. Grid Analysis
5. PMI
6. Force field analysis
7. Six Thinking Hats
8. Cost-benefit analysis
9. buyer decision processes
10. scenario analysis
11. complex systems
12. optimization and constrained optimization
13. linear programming
14. model (economics)
15. min-max criterion
16. Monte Carlo method