Tackling Indecision: Automate Destiny « It's the small things that make a difference.

Life

presented by Suzuki, the specialist for small cars.

Sometimes the most difficult thing about making a decision is not the result, but the process of making it. These decision and recommendation websites want to take the place of your best friend in the decision-making process.

A small “yes” or “no” can alter your big picture and therefore many decisions can be painful at times. Some people enjoy the process of analyzing options and evaluating alternatives, but others prefer to avoid the process entirely and have fate decide by flipping a coin. Now these sites will step in and make the whole decision-making process pain-free.

The best answer wins: Yahoo! Answers
Perhaps the oldest online crowdsourcing decision-making tool available, Yahoo! Answers launched in 2005 and has a basic premise: ask a question, and someone will answer you.

And they definitely do answer you. Yahoo! does not focus on accuracy or distinguish which answers are correct and which are incorrect, but rely on the community of users to vote on which contribution best answers the question. Perhaps due to the lack of filtering questions or language, some of the questions on Yahoo! Answers have gained their own notoriety like “How is babby formed?” (a user asking about how babies are made) that spawned an internet meme, a website and a Facebook group.

Still, the amount of questions being asked and answered is staggering and they are completely available for your perusal should you have a similar question of your own. Answers is available in 12 languages around the world, making it the most diffused recommendation system in the world.

We know people like you: Hunch.com
A site that launched last year by co-founder of Flickr, Caterina Fake, Hunch.com is a collective intelligence decision-making system aptly named for trying to take the guessing out of a decision.

When I first logged in, I didn’t have any questions to ask, and therefore I didn’t immediately see the use of the site. Then I clicked on “Teach Hunch about You,” and landed in a series of never-ending multiple choice questions about myself that then compared me with everyone else who has answered the same question. I wrote about how much we love statistics. But statistics that automatically tell you how your habits and thoughts compare to everyone around you? Truly addictive.

It’s also in your best interests to continue feeding Hunch your answers, because the more Hunch knows about you, the better it should be able to predict for you as it’s based on collective user knowledge and habits. As they claim, “After asking you 10 questions or less, Hunch will provide a concrete recommendation for dilemmas of every kind.” During the question process, you can also read feedback from other users about the choices in a wiki-like setting.

Know Yourself, Know Your Decision: Let Simon Decide
Let Simon Decide’s Factor Checklists contain hundreds of factors to consider in making your decision. In a lengthy decision-making process that rests on algorithms and a personality test, the site first wants to make sure you and it understand your goals and desires, and then it incorporates these into your actual decision-making process with alternatives, choices and preferences that you must rate in reference to your goals. Users can answer preset questions or make up their own.

People You Know and Trust: Aardvark – vark.com
Aardvark at vark.com, a site launched in 2009, doesn’t want to have your decisions and answers rely on strangers or machine logic. They want to help you make use of the best decision-making engine you already have: your existing social network. The first thing you do is give Aardvark your social media connections, IM logins and your friend lists so they understand the resources you have already in your network. Based on the question you ask and the people you’re connected to, Aardvark decides who would best person to answer it and routes the question to them via email or IM.

Now, are you ready to take on a small thing like a big decision?

photo by -bast- / CC BY 2.0