Testimonials

Dr. Neil Byron, former Commissioner, Productivity Commission:

In 2010, the National Water Commission invited me to assist them with some complex policy questions. While at the Productivity Commission, I had worked on a number of occasions with Austhink Consulting. I had been consistently astounded by the way in which their methods for the visualization and clarification of reasoning processes enables one to impose order on chaos and see what is really going on in complex, contentious and tangled debates. Using the Austhink approach and applying their argument-mapping software “bCisive” saved me many days of work and added clarity and structure to the analysis. When the report was completed, it was greeted with high praise by commissioners, senior management and other policy specialists, for its clarity and incisiveness. I heartily recommend Austhink's methods and services.

Prof. Ross Babbage, Founder, Kokoda Foundation:

I have been familiar with Austhink's methods since the founders set out to develop something innovative and practical along these lines a decade or so ago. It is very clear to me now that they are making a significant contribution to the improvement of analytical standards in the public policy arena, particularly among young professionals. Austhink deserves the country's thanks for this.

LTGEN (ret) Peter Leahy, former Chief of Army:

Austhink's methods for dissecting and clarifying complex pieces of analysis or public policy are first class. Although I have always been an advocate of the Army retaining its tank capability and specifically pressed for the purchase of the Abrams tanks to replace the aging Leopards, when I needed to prepare a speech on the subject for the Defence College last year, Austhink's report on the subject Why Tanks, Why Abrams? saved me a week's work. It is an excellent piece of work and crystal clear in its laying out of every aspect of the debate, for and against the decision.

Bruce Page, Energy Sector Consultant:

I have been a practitioner in the space that is the subject of this argument map for several years now. I believed I fully understood the issue and could not understand why others did not. However, the application of cognitive discipline and logic that Austhink Consulting brought to the issue caused me to revisit my own paradigms and open my mind to the thought processes of others. The process had the effect of taking individuals with diverging views along the same path to arrive at the same point together.

The business for which the work was done, to which I was an independent consultant, had been wheel spinning on this particular issue for over three and a half years. In that time it has spent an enormous amount of money and diverted valuable resources in trying to develop a solution for the business. Inevitably with time, the views of individuals became more divergent and more entrenched. In the mean time, opportunities came and went and the ability of the business to influence the design of the market diminished. Austhink’s fresh and logical approach to capturing and articulating the views and ideas of key stake-holders condensed all of this divergent thinking and strategy development into a single coherent action plan that everyone could not only sign on to, but champion to completion.

As is often the case in life, the journey was even more important than the destination. In this case the destination was a set of practical agreed outcomes to further the interest of the business. The journey to get there, however, caused several parties with widely diverging views to consider the issue from each other’s perspective and work together as a team with a common goal. This is an investment that will continue to pay a dividend through the participants for many years to come.

The methods used are not rocket science. In fact, they are the opposite of rocket science. They consist of finding the simple truth that is buried deep within issues that seem too complex to resolve. That Austhink has devised new methods for doing this is enormously to its credit and I only hope more businesses will start to adopt such methods. It will save an immense amount of money, time and frustration for them.