Quantifying the Gut-feeling – Part 1

Important life decisions are often made by a subconscious and subjective scoring system, so abstract that it is hard to be confident that we are making the right decision – We usually follow our instinct or “Gut Feeling”.

As part of the CX Collective Associates Programme, I will spend the next year exploring and documenting this topic, and validating my hypotheses about how to use Design and Technology to come to an objective solution that improves confidence and remove stress from important life decisions.

Important life decisions

In a work context, when we are deciding on the best person to hire, we usually have parameters to “score” each candidate that we interview. But some of those parameters are more important than others for each evaluator, and the scoring itself is still a subjective matter.

Parameters for candidate selection at entry level might have a different weighting than candidates at senior levels. 

When hiring a junior person, their abilities to adapt/contribute to the team culture and propensity to learn might have a higher level of importance than their technical skills and ability to mentor others. On top of that, our perception of their strength in each one of the described abilities will be biased by our own experience.

Interviewed HR manager

The same scenario is repeated in other important life decisions like buying a house to live in, choosing the right school for children, and sometimes less critical situations with the potential to have a greater impact – like a family deciding the next holiday destination.

When deciding on the best house to live in, the weight of features will have different levels of importance if I’m; a young professional supported by my family, a single parent that must find a place to live in the short term, a couple preparing for their first child’s arrival, or a person with the investment hat on looking for stepping into the property market for the first time.

When buying a house, the proximity to good schools, a bohemian neighbourhood, a nice indoor-outdoor flow, or potential for future development will have a different weight when making the decision. On top of that, the perception that an indoor-outdoor flow or the safeness of the house are good, will depend on each buyer’s standards and expectations.

Interviewed Real Estate Agent

Hypotheses

There is a consistent pattern in our mental calculations when making important life decisions, and by visualising the outcome we will increase our confidence and reduce stress in the process – It will objectivise our gut feeling.