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Decision Fatigue in Software Implementations

Making decisions wears us out, even easy decisions like what to wear, what to eat for breakfast. Decision fatigue is something we need to manage especially when it comes to projects that require lots and lots of decisions (like Print MIS implementations). 

Wednesday, October 07, 2020

When we implement software in our print businesses, we are often faced with decisions we have been putting off for a long time. Let me jog your memory with a list of things that might hit close to home.

Each of the 10 things listed above requires a lot of decisions to be made. Decision fatigue is a real thing. It impacts us all and when we are under its influence we make illogical trade-offs that have real consequences to our businesses. The other place I hear about decision fatigue is in a home remodel. Everyone in my life who has completed a large-scale home renovation project talks about being so tired of making decisions that they simply started letting others decide for them. Now they are in a house wondering how that tile got picked for the shower they use every day.

Decision fatigue describes how our decision-making gets worse as we make additional choices and our cognitive abilities get worn out. Decision fatigue is the reason we feel overwhelmed when we have too many choices to make. —The Decision Lab 


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About Jennifer Matt

Jennifer Matt is the managing editor of WhatTheyThink’s Print Software section as well as President of Web2Print Experts, Inc. a technology-independent print software consulting firm helping printers with web-to-print and print MIS solutions.

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