One of the many decision templates that Volley provides in the category of Decision Support Systems is for "First Principles" thinking.
As described by HumanCentered.Technology in the blog post "First Principles, an unlock for creative problem-solving", First Principles is a framework for decision-making and problem-solving that dates back to the time of Aristotle, but has grown in popularity as of late thanks to the references that Elon Musk has made to applying the method to his own work.
As a collaborative decision framework, Volley allows multiple participants to interact on a material decision. By leveraging a decision template for First Principles, teams can tackle a problem by breaking down the situation into foundational components... otherwise known as fundamental truths.
Rolling Stone wrote a great article called "The Architect of Tomorrow", in which Musk sheds light on the details of this approach. Here is a synopsis:
- Framing - Ask a question. Establish the fundamental truths, and document the assumptions.
- Evidence - Gather as much evidence as possible about the question or problem.
- Axioms - Develop axioms based on the evidence, and try to assign a probability of truth to each one. Draw a conclusion based on cogency.
- Disprovability - Attempt to disprove the conclusion. Seek refutation from others to further help break your conclusion. If nobody can invalidate your conclusion, then you’re probably right, but you’re not certainly right.
Are these axioms correct, are they relevant, do they necessarily lead to this conclusion, and with what probability?
Volley provides a decision template to apply First Principles to your own problem-solving and decision-making needs. Sign up and use the decision template that has been purpose-built for First Principles analysis. You will be amazed at how collaborative decision optimization(TM) can help unlock your creative potential.