Decision matrix
List your options, say what matters to you and how much, then score each option. The totals show how your own scores add up.
Your options
Between 2 and 6.
What matters
Between 2 and 8. Weight each from 1 (a little) to 5 (a lot).
Score each option
From 1 (poor) to 5 (very good), for each thing that matters.
How your scores add up
Each score is multiplied by its weight, then added up.
This is a way to lay out your own judgement, not an answer. If the top total surprises you, that is worth noticing too: a weight or a score may not say what you meant, or something that matters may be missing from the list.
Before weighing options closely, it can help to ask how hard the choice would be to reverse. Jeff Bezos split decisions in two in his letter with Amazon’s 2015 annual report:
- One-way doors (Type 1)
- Consequential and irreversible: “made methodically, carefully, slowly”
- Two-way doors (Type 2)
- Changeable and reversible: “made quickly by high judgment individuals or small groups”
- The next year’s rule
- “Somewhere around 70%” of the information you wish you had; waiting for 90% is “probably being slow”
Written about decisions inside a company, with hedges.
The pre-mortem asks you to imagine the choice has already gone wrong, and to write down why. It sits well beside this grid.
Decision matrix: what it is and how to use it
A decision matrix sets your options side by side and scores each one against the things that matter to you, weighted by how much each one matters. This one multiplies every score by its weight and adds up the totals, so you can see how your own judgement adds up. It is free, runs in your browser and keeps your grid on your own device.
Weighing reasons, from a 1772 letter to today
Benjamin Franklin described a way of weighing a hard choice in a letter to Joseph Priestley on 19 September 1772. He would "divide half a Sheet of Paper by a Line into two Columns", one headed Pro and the other Con, then "estimate their respective Weights" and strike out reasons that balanced each other. He wrote that it "may be called Moral or Prudential Algebra", while granting that the weight of reasons "cannot be taken with the Precision of Algebraic Quantities".
A weighted matrix puts numbers where Franklin used judgement: a weight for each thing that matters, a score for each option, and a total. Decision theory asks a related question. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy sums up expected utility theory with the slogan "choose the act with the highest expected utility", and notes that units of utility are "typically not taken to be units of currency".
Our decision tools article reads the useful part of that theory as the question it forces: how much does each outcome matter to you, and how likely is it? The totals here are only as good as the weights and scores you give, so treat them as a picture of your own judgement rather than an answer.
How to use it
- Under Your options, list the choices you are weighing: between two and six.
- Under What matters, list two to eight things you care about and give each a weight from 1 (a little) to 5 (a lot).
- Score each option from 1 (poor) to 5 (very good) on each thing that matters.
- Read How your scores add up: every score is multiplied by its weight, the results are added, and the bars compare the totals.
- If the winner surprises you, look again at your weights and scores, and ask whether something that matters is missing from the list.
An example
Three flats are on the shortlist: one near work, one with a garden, one with the lowest rent. You weight rent 5, commute 4, space 3 and light 2, then score each flat. The cheapest comes out on top, but you notice you marked the garden flat down on commute because of a single bus. You check the timetable before you decide.
Questions people ask
What is a weighted decision matrix?
A table with your options on one side and what matters on the other. Each score is multiplied by the weight of what it measures, and the results are added up for each option.
How do you weight the criteria?
Give each one a number for how much it matters to you; here that is 1 to 5. A criterion weighted 5 counts five times as much as one weighted 1.
What was Benjamin Franklin's pros and cons method?
In a 1772 letter he described listing pros and cons in two columns, weighing them, and striking out reasons that balanced each other. He wrote that it "may be called Moral or Prudential Algebra".
Should I always pick the option with the highest total?
The total only shows how your own scores add up. If it surprises you, a weight or score may not say what you meant, or something that matters may be missing.
Read more
- Deciding under uncertainty: 7 famous decision tools
- Pre-mortem worksheet (free tool)
- Which thinking tool fits? (free tool)
Sources
Your options, weights and scores are kept in this browser only and are never sent to us. Clearing your browser data or using a private window removes them.
Related reading: Deciding under uncertainty · Pre-mortem