Need to make a decision based on overwhelming amounts of data and hypotheses? Forget about torturing your brain and pick up a copy of Open Source Analysis of Competing Hypotheses (ACH), a free intelligence software designed to help you make objective and logical decisions by rigorously testing each hypothesis.
Originally developed for the CIA, the software played an integral part in the government agency’s vaunted research methodology. It works in a rather straightforward manner: given a set of data and hypotheses, it checks which of the latter are viable by eliminating those with too many inconsistent components.
According to the official website, ACH differs from conventional intuitive analysis by requiring you to identify a full set of alternative explanations (instead of just one likely conclusion), each of which you will then assess objectively using each available evidence. Because of this, it could prove to be a valuable asset for many types of research situations and dispute resolutions.
If you’ve ever wanted to put the scientific method to work when deciding what to cook for dinner, where to go on your next vacation and which tie to wear to work, we can’t imagine a better software to assist you. The whole process is rigorous, though (you will be testing each hypothesis against each evidence individually), so don’t expect an expert resource who can tell you the answer in a jiffy. Maybe, think of it like an expert resource who likes to ask too many questions before giving you an answer.
ACH is available for download free from the official website, complete with a comprehensive guide, sample projects and other related resources.