I’m Justin Fox, and I spoke a few days ago in Palo Alto with Ronald Howard, a professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University and the man who half a century ago coined the term “decision analysis.” RONALD HOWARD: Yes, by representing the decision, including the three major factors– what kind of alternatives do you have, what information do you have, how does what you do change different things, which is uncertain, typically, and we model on uncertainty, and then what are your preferences. JUSTIN FOX: What kinds of decisions does decision analysis best lend itself to?