Acknowledgments
We have benefited greatly from our decision analysis colleagues and mentors. We would like to acknowledge these contributions in four categories: special, individual, chapter, and handbook reviewers.
Special Acknowledgments
The authors of this book wish to express our deep appreciation to Professor Ronald A. Howard for being our teacher, mentor, and colleague. All four of us studied under Ron at Stanford, and he inspired each of us to pursue a career as a decision professional. His formulation of decision analysis is the basis of our understanding of how to address tough decisions, and his ongoing contributions to the field have strengthened our professional practice.
In addition, the authors appreciate the support of the John Wiley & Sons OR/MS series editor Susanne Steitz-Filler, our colleagues on the board of the Society for Decision Professionals, and the anonymous Wiley OR/MS reviewers who all encouraged us to write a decision analysis handbook for decision professionals.
Individual Acknowledgments
Gregory S. Parnell acknowledges colleagues Dennis Buede, Pat Driscoll, Ralph Keeney, Robin Keller, Craig Kirkwood, and Larry Phillips for their valuable professional advice and friendship. In addition, I acknowledge Terry Bresnick for recruiting me to Innovative Decisions, Inc., which has involved me in decision analysis practice as well as education.
Terry A. Bresnick acknowledges Ed Sondik and Rex Brown for providing DA theoretical background; Cameron Peterson, Roy Gulick, and Larry Phillips for making me understand the importance of the “socio” side of decision analysis and molding my perspective on facilitation; Al Grum for being my mentor as I started my career as a decision analyst; and Dennis Buede for being my collaborator and partner for many years in our DA practice.
Eric R. Johnson acknowledges Leonard Bertrand and Jim Matheson for conversations that contributed to my perspective on decision analysis and to the handbook.
Steven N. Tani acknowledges Jim Matheson for providing vital leadership during the early years of the decision analysis profession at Stanford Research Institute and Carl Spetzler for keeping Strategic Decisions Group true to its values through many transitions in its 31-year history. Both of these colleagues have had a large and positive role in shaping my professional career.
Sean Xinghua Hu acknowledges colleague Stanhope Hopkins for refinement of some of the Geneptin case illustrations and key contribution to the development of the case Excel model.
Chapter Acknowledgments
CHAPTER 1 AND 4: SOFT SKILLS
The authors would like to acknowledge the instructors of the Soft Skills Workshops that has been taught at Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS) and Military Operations Research Society (MORS). These individuals include Bill Klimack, Freeman Marvin, Jack Kloeber, Don Buckshaw, Dave Leonardi, and Paul Wicker. We have also benefited from discussions with colleagues at DAAG 2012, including Carl Spetzler. They have motivated us to provide explicit identification and description of soft skills that are essential for decision analysts. The identification methodology that includes personal and intrapersonal skills is our contribution to the field.
CHAPTER 2
The authors would like to acknowledge Dennis Buede and Freeman Marvin, our colleagues at Innovative Decisions, Inc. Dennis and Freeman have developed and co-taught courses on decision analysis, systems engineering, and facilitation. Their collaboration and insights have made this chapter more complete and more focused.
Handbook Chapter Reviewers
After drafting the entire book, we sent each chapter to one or two colleagues for review. We acknowledge the following individuals for their timely reviews and excellent suggestions: Ali Abbas, Ritesh Banerjee, Kevin Carpenter, Jim Chinnis, Ellen Coopersmith, Robin Dillon, Jim Felli, Dave Frye, Roy Guilick, Onder Guven, Ralph Keeney, Rob Kleinbaum, Jeff Keisler, Craig Kirkwood, Jack Kloeber, Ken Kuskey, Bill Klimack, Frank Koch, William Leaf-Herrmann, Pat Leach, Freeman Marvin, Dan Maxwell, Jason Merrick, Cam Peterson, Jan Schulze, Carl Spetzler, and Joe Tatman. Of course, any remaining errors or omission are the responsibility of the authors.