Great Decisions Review

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Great Decisions Review

at 1:05 PM

Great Decisions Review

By Jennifer Allen on October 19th, 2011
Our Rating:

:: USEFUL
Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Bringing clarity to difficult decisions, in theory.

Developer: GreatLife Software
Price: $5.99
Version Reviewed: 1.4
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4

iPhone Integration Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
Re-use Value Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars

Any therapist will say that the best way to de-stress about a situation and calm down is to write it all down. Can’t sleep? Take five minutes to write down everything that’s stopping sleep from happening. Those five minutes frequently do the trick and a quick writing session can be the path to a healthy night’s sleep. Solving a difficult dilemma is done through a very similar method. Writing the pros and cons of a problem can make all the difference to figuring it out and feeling back in control of life.

Great Decisions hopes to ease its users into making the right decision for them. Offering a clean and simple interface, getting to grips with it is easy. All the user has to do is enter the name or question surrounding the dilemma, then enter the pros and cons relating to it. Users then assign a personal weight to each value to determine what’s most important to them. Great Decisions then totals up the weighted average and presents it at the bottom of the screen. Essentially, it’s a way of focusing on the matter at hand. Standing back and reading the advantages and disadvantages can really provide a moment of clarity.

Different forms of decisions are catered for. While one template can be used to weigh up which job to go for or perhaps even which date, another can be used to prioritize items as part of a list. What needs doing before a much needed holiday from work? List them here to ensure it all gets done and in the correct order. Another template is useful when needing to tally up votes from many people, such as when coming to an important and diplomatic decision. The ability to email decisions and the appropriate attributes is particularly useful when dealing with workplace problems.

Great Decisions is a little pricey for what it offers, weighing in at $5.99. The functionality is strong for the purpose but that’s still a lot for essentially reaching a decision. However, I can see for those who regularly need to solve dilemmas or for those whose brains work well with visual stimulus, this could be just what’s needed. I think I’ll be sticking to just listing things in the built in Notes app.