Note that A or B decisions are often false dichotomies, and you may be overlooking alternative options that combine the advantages. So narrowing in on given options too soon may sometimes be a mistake, and it can be useful to try to come up with more alternatives.
Also, in my experience many of the decisions I get stuck with fall somewhere between 2 and 3: I know their implications and have most of the information, but the results differ on various dimensions. E.g. option 1 is safe and somewhat impactful, while option 2 is potentially higher impact but much riskier and comes at the cost of disappointing somebody you care about.
I’m not sure to what degree a decision doc is suitable for these types of problems in particular—but I’ve at least had a few cases where friends came up with some helpful way to reframe the situation that led to a valuable insight.
(But I should mention I definitely see your point that many EAs may be overthinking some of their decisions—though even then I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable in case of value conflicts to just flip a coin. But in many other cases I agree that getting to any decision quickly rather then getting stuck in decision paralysis is a good approach.)
Note that A or B decisions are often false dichotomies, and you may be overlooking alternative options that combine the advantages. So narrowing in on given options too soon may sometimes be a mistake, and it can be useful to try to come up with more alternatives.
Also, in my experience many of the decisions I get stuck with fall somewhere between 2 and 3: I know their implications and have most of the information, but the results differ on various dimensions. E.g. option 1 is safe and somewhat impactful, while option 2 is potentially higher impact but much riskier and comes at the cost of disappointing somebody you care about. I’m not sure to what degree a decision doc is suitable for these types of problems in particular—but I’ve at least had a few cases where friends came up with some helpful way to reframe the situation that led to a valuable insight.
(But I should mention I definitely see your point that many EAs may be overthinking some of their decisions—though even then I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable in case of value conflicts to just flip a coin. But in many other cases I agree that getting to any decision quickly rather then getting stuck in decision paralysis is a good approach.)