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Brian Putt

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RE: Welcome New Members!

Posted By Brian Putt 03-13-2026 14:58
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If you are into Monte Carlo, you might find my YouTube channel "Brian Putt" of interest as it covers many aspects of Decision analysis to include value of information, cost and schedule analysis, portfolio evaluation, Minimum Functional Objectives analysis approach. ------------------------------ ...

RE: FAIR Model: A New Approach to Indirect Costs in Federal Research

Posted By Brian Putt 08-28-2025 11:19
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This is going to cause a little confusion is there is an established FAIR Quantitative Information Risk Management | The FAIR Institute ------------------------------ Brian Putt Decision Scientist Consultant retired Fremont CA ------------------------------

RE: What unexpected or "soft skills" have helped you succeed in your operations research and analytics career?

Posted By Brian Putt 08-22-2025 14:05
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The most important skill is being able to communicate effectively. The best OR analysis has no impact if the decision executive (DE) doesn't act upon it. If the results are consistent with the DEs gut then they ask why did we spend time and money on this project. If it is different from their gut then ...

RE: Fun Post: Career Advice

Posted By Brian Putt 03-03-2025 08:24
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Absolutely agree. The common way of saying this is that a decision is not measured by the outcome. If we have followed the 6 steps of decision quality, we have made a good decision. Decision Focus 01 - Decision Chain ------------------------------ BRIAN PUTT Decision Scientist Consultant retired Fremont ...

RE: Fun Post: Career Advice

Posted By Brian Putt 02-28-2025 10:43
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The most important things to learn and practice are being a good listener and learning how to communicate clearly with those that are around you. No matter how smart you are, if you cannot communicate, they will not follow, whether this is someone you supervise or your supervisor. ------------------------------ ...

RE: model management of OR/Simulation models

Posted By Brian Putt 11-01-2024 12:13
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My company has a modeling guide. It was written by experts in the company and has last over 20 years. By having the guide, it enables employees to move to various organizations and have a better understanding of how the model works. There is also a Model Review conducted by Peers from other internal ...

RE: Experiment or Theory: which is the better way to learn a concept

Posted By Brian Putt 07-19-2024 11:43
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To the question of Experiment or Theory, I fully believe that experiment is better to learn and understand. We learn by doing. We learn to facilitate through practice. We could take a course in facilitation, but unless you do it yourself you don't know what is right for you. Then there is mathematical ...

RE: Teaching Intro to management Science

Posted By Brian Putt 05-05-2024 10:50
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I echo Ralph's comments about teaching intro classes with sophisticated software. The use of these software's are not in all companies and often limited to specialized small groups in the company. Learning the concepts using Excel, which is something they understand allows them to focus on the concepts. ...

RE: Discussion to the LP problems

Posted By Brian Putt 02-23-2024 10:02
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I worked this problem back in 1970 as a simulation problem using GPSS. In some manner I think you need to include uncertainty and probably Monte Carlo. Perhaps you need to better define what you mean by Hybrid-scheduling. ------------------------------ BRIAN PUTT Decision Scientist Consultant retired ...

RE: Presentations are more important than data- Agree or disagree?

Posted By Brian Putt 11-04-2023 09:31
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Which is more important – story telling or data. They are equally important. The best presenter can tell a good story but if there is not proper analysis behind that story, they are only waving their arms. It isn't really helping the decision executive make a GOOD Decision. On the other hand, the best ...

RE: Monte Carlo Simulations and Industry Applications

Posted By Brian Putt 11-02-2023 11:20
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Doing back 30 years, decision trees were the applications of choice to make decisions. However, computers have become much faster and new techniques have developed to make Monte Carlo a choice for many companies and consultants to evaluate opportunities under uncertainty. There are many different ways ...

RE: How do you approach the selection of the right visualization method for different types of data (e.g., time series, categorical, geospatial)?

Posted By Brian Putt 10-29-2023 11:13
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There is no one right way. What is the message or insights do you want to convey to the decision maker. For a cost and schedule risk analysis consider some of the displays in this YouTube video. 1. Presenting CSRA Analysis to Decision Maker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsC1N_PKafc ------- ...

RE: Crystal Ball alternatives

Posted By Brian Putt 09-11-2023 09:34
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Kevin -- SIPmath from Probability Management is a good alternative with some advantages over Crystal Ball. There is a free version at ChanceCalc Monte Carlo - Probability Management. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to download the free version. Many of the models on my YouTube Channel can be done ...

RE: Promoting analytics careers

Posted By Brian Putt 08-04-2023 08:17
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Ideally high schools would have a class in how to make decisions considering uncertainty. However, changing the curriculum is very difficult. We were successful in Eugene Oregon through the Decision Education Foundation ( The Decision Education Foundation | DEF )that promotes the use of Decision Quality ...

RE: Welcome New Members!

Posted By Brian Putt 08-01-2023 17:37
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Welcome to INFORMS. If you are working on Stochastic processes, you might look at the Excel add-in SIPmath from ProbabilityManagement.org. They have a free version that you can experiment with. To see more advanced uses of the add-in using Excel, review my YouTube Channel. Decisions considering Uncertainty ...

RE: Draining 401(k) Accounts When Changing Jobs: The Hidden Time Bomb Undermining Retirement Savings

Posted By Brian Putt 07-21-2023 10:10
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Agree, but let me expand on an option to roll over the 401K to your individual retirement account. There is no requirement to do anything with the account. You can leave it in your past employer's 401K. This can be particularly advantageous for older employees who will eventually reach the age of RMDs ...

RE: Can Decision Making benefit from an AI driven co-pilot?

Posted By Brian Putt 05-12-2023 09:09
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AI requires a test data set to learn from. It requires lots of occurrences. The example that comes to mind is being able to identify a cat from a dog or lion. There are certainly lots of example of this. ChatGPT being one of them. But then there are larger decisions that are more unique. Traditionally ...

RE: The Interplay between OR and Machine Learning

Posted By Brian Putt 05-06-2023 09:25
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I agree that the Decision Maker doesn't need to understand how the engine works that gives the solution, but if the answer is not consistent with their gut or thinking, there needs to be an explanation. Explain why this alternative is better than other alternatives that were considered. Why did we take ...

RE: Favorite moments from the Business Analytics Conference

Posted By Brian Putt 05-05-2023 10:17
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For me, a Decision Analyst and not AI or coding person, the presenter at 9AM on Tuesday regarding the Cruise Industry was very interesting. Not as technical as some of the other presentation and addressed his approach to data analytics for a large cruise line. ------------------------------ BRIAN ...

RE: Welcome New Members!

Posted By Brian Putt 04-09-2023 08:40
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Andrew -- Thanks for joining INFORMS. As a data analyst working to make better decisions you might find my YouTube channel of interest. It uses Monte Carlo to evaluate opportunities and uses some free software (SIPmath) provided by www.ProbabilityManagement.org. It also discusses the use to Metalogs ...