Decision Matrix
Scores several options against the same criteria. Each criterion carries a weight; an option's total is the sum of its score × weight products.
Register nowWhen to use it?
- When you are stuck between a few alternatives and the "which is better" argument keeps going in circles.
- When the reasoning behind a decision has to be left on record.
- When everyone on the team is quietly weighing a different criterion: the matrix brings those criteria out.
Step by step
- 1Add criteria: the headings you will compare on (cost, time, risk...).
- 2Give each criterion a weight from 1 to 5 — how much that heading matters to you.
- 3Add options: the alternatives you are comparing.
- 4Score each option against each criterion from 0 to 10 in the table.
- 5Totals are calculated automatically and the highest-scoring option is marked with a trophy.
Keyboard shortcuts (desktop)
Tips
- Set the weights before you start scoring. Adjusting them afterwards is not deciding, it is producing the answer you wanted.
- The matrix does not decide for you; it makes visible what you decided on.
- If two totals come out very close, the answer is not "equal" but "these criteria do not separate them" — look for a missing criterion.
Worked example
Example: which warehouse should we lease?
Three candidates, and everyone has a different favourite. The discussion runs on "I think". Weighting the criteria and scoring each option out of ten brings it down to numbers.
Criteria and weight
- Monthly cost — weight 5
- Distance to customers — weight 4
- Room to expand — weight 3
- Road and port access — weight 3
- Difficulty of moving — weight 1
Scores (1-10)
- Warehouse A: 8 / 4 / 6 / 5 / 7
- Warehouse B: 5 / 9 / 4 / 8 / 5
- Warehouse C: 6 / 7 / 9 / 6 / 3
Weighted total
- Warehouse A — 100
- Warehouse B — 114
- Warehouse C — 114
A is out. B and C tie, so the matrix did not decide — but it reduced the argument from five criteria to one. The only remaining question is whether proximity beats room to expand. That is usually the real benefit of a decision matrix: it does not choose, it narrows.
Frequently asked questions
What is a decision matrix?
A table that scores several options against the same criteria and multiplies each score by how much that criterion matters. Its purpose is not to automate the decision but to make the assumptions behind it visible.
How do I set the weights?
Before you score, and without looking at the options. If you do it the other way round, people quietly adjust the weights until their preferred option wins. Writing the weights first and locking them is the only thing that makes the matrix worth anything.
What if the result is not the option I wanted?
That is the most valuable moment the matrix offers. There are two possibilities: either you weighted a criterion wrongly, or there is a criterion missing from the table. Both are fixed by writing down what is missing, not by adjusting the numbers.
How many criteria should I use?
Four to seven works well. Below three you could have decided on instinct anyway; above seven the weights converge and the totals end up meaninglessly close together.
Is it free?
Yes. Klarsti is free and ad-free right now, and you do not need an account to build a decision matrix.