The document discusses four basic patterns of thinking: understanding what's going on, determining why things happened, deciding on a course of action, and anticipating what lies ahead. It then discusses how these patterns are used in organizational contexts through situation appraisal, problem analysis, decision analysis, and potential problem analysis. Decision analysis in particular involves analyzing reasons for decisions, options, and risks to accomplish goals. The characteristics of thinking first, seeing first, and doing first approaches to decision making are also outlined.