Decision Matrix

The problem with most decisions isn't that people don't think — it's that they think in the wrong order. They list options, list pros and cons, then pick the one that "feels right." Which means the decision is actually made by whichever factor they happened to think about most recently. Externalising the comparison flips that. You name what matters before you score, weight before you compare, and the answer falls out of evidence rather than vibes.

Five-to-eight criteria, no more. Beyond eight, several criteria are measuring the same underlying dimension — "ease of use" and "learning curve" are usability twice, "cost" and "ongoing maintenance" are total cost twice — and the matrix consolidates them. Each criterion gets a weight by pairwise comparison ("is cost more important than speed for this decision?"). Weights matter more than scores: two reasonable people score similarly but disagree about what matters most, and that's where decisions actually diverge.

Every score earns a justification note. "Scored 4 because £18k TCO over 12 months" is defensible. "Scored 4 because it feels right" is not. Then sensitivity analysis: if the top criterion's weight shifts by 10%, does the winner change? If the winning option's weakest score drops a point, does it still win? Two options within 0.3 points triggers the close-call protocol — the matrix says explicitly it isn't decisive, and you move to reversibility and regret-minimisation tiebreakers instead of pretending a near-tie is a clear answer.

It handles group decisions honestly: each stakeholder weights criteria independently, divergences above 15% surface a values disagreement before scoring. It handles personal decisions too — career, relocation, relationship — with emotional and identity criteria scored alongside rational ones, and a gut-check step after the math. And every output includes a "what you give up" section, because the best recommendation names the tradeoffs explicitly rather than pretending the winning option is superior in every way. A Quick Decision 5-minute mode exists for two-way doors where speed matters more than precision.