“Knowing reality is not limited to understanding things; it must also include understanding ideas, beliefs, and values.”
Carlos Matus, Teoría del Juego Social.
Our Approach
PonderAz Services supports organisations and institutions facing complex decisions, situations where evidence, moral reflection, and social context matter as much as outcomes.
We approach decision-making as a situated practice. Decisions are never made in a vacuum: they are shaped by who is involved, from which position decisions are taken, for what purpose, and within which institutional, social, and ethical context. Understanding a problem, therefore, requires more than technical analysis — it requires understanding the situation in which the problem is embedded.
“What concerns each actor in the face of reality can be very different. And it can be a serious error in situational assessment to think that the other person values the same questions as I do.”
— Carlos Matus
One common mistake in strategic and policy decisions is treating problems as isolated or purely technical. Another is overlooking the rules, resources, and relationships that structure a situation. Some rules are formal, such as laws, policies, procedures; while others are informal: norms, power dynamics, and “the way things are actually done.” Ignoring these informal rules often leads to strategies that look sound on paper but fail in practice.
The same applies to stakeholders and power. While formal authority matters, influence does not always follow official hierarchies. Actors without decision-making power may still control key resources, shape narratives, or be closely connected to centres of power. Understanding who holds what and how access to resources, networks, and legitimacy is distributed is essential for sound strategy.
Finally, not every problem needs to or can be solved by one organisation alone. A situational analysis helps clarify what is within your control, where collaboration is needed, and when it may be more effective to enable, incentivise, or support others to act.
At PonderAz, we bring together research, moral deliberation, facilitation, and strategic analysis to help organisations navigate these complexities thoughtfully, weighing options, responsibilities, and consequences with care and integrity.