--- name: decision-matrix description: "Score a handful of options against criteria that matter differently, with your own weights and scores summed into a single composite score and priority/consider/deprioritize tier — never asserted, always computed from what you enter. Use when: You have a real handful of options (not two obvious extremes) and criteria that genuinely matter differently to the decision, not equally. You can state real weights and score each option honestly, even when the highest-weighted criterion doesn't have an obvious winner. Not for: You're ranking failure modes, not comparing options against each other — that's an FMEA's job, not this one's. You need a fast impact/effort triage across many small ideas, not a deliberated choice between a few real options — a countermeasure matrix's simpler 2-axis filter fits that better." --- # Weighted decision matrix Score a handful of options against criteria that matter differently, with your own weights and scores summed into a single composite score and priority/consider/deprioritize tier — never asserted, always computed from what you enter. Family: Problem solving / root cause analysis · Format: .xlsx · Domain: core ## What it is A weighted decision matrix scores a small set of options against criteria that don't all matter equally — cost, ease of adoption, support quality, whatever the real decision actually turns on — each criterion carrying its own weight, each option scored directly against each criterion (1 to 5). The weights and scores are multiplied and summed into a single composite score (0 to 100), which sorts options into priority, consider, or deprioritize tiers. It's genuinely different from a countermeasure matrix's quick 2-axis impact/effort filter — this is for a real, deliberated choice between a handful of options, not a fast triage pass — and from an FMEA, which ranks failure modes by risk, not options by fit. ## When to use it Use it when: - You have a real handful of options (not two obvious extremes) and criteria that genuinely matter differently to the decision, not equally. - You can state real weights and score each option honestly, even when the highest-weighted criterion doesn't have an obvious winner. - You want the ranking to survive someone asking 'why did we pick this one' with a specific, defensible answer. Not when: - You're ranking failure modes, not comparing options against each other — that's an FMEA's job, not this one's. - You need a fast impact/effort triage across many small ideas, not a deliberated choice between a few real options — a countermeasure matrix's simpler 2-axis filter fits that better. - The decision is really fixed by a hard constraint (budget, policy, a non-negotiable requirement) — state the constraint and eliminate options first; this tool compares genuinely viable options, not options one of which was never really in play. ## How to fill it in - **decision** — What's being decided, and what are you scoring options against? - **criteria** — What matters in this decision, and how much does each criterion count? Weights should sum to 100% — your own judgement about what matters, never AI-assigned. - **options** — For each option, score it 1 (weakest) to 5 (strongest) against every criterion — your own honest judgement, never AI-scored. The composite score and tier are computed from your weights and scores, never entered directly. - **narrative** — Drafted from the computed ranking, naming what's actually driving the top option's score. ## What good looks like The example below scores three candidate CI-software vendors against four weighted criteria — and deliberately shows an option that wins the single most heavily weighted criterion outright but still doesn't clear the priority threshold overall, because the composite score is what actually decides, not any one axis. Full worked example, on-screen and as a downloadable .xlsx: https://www.katafacts.com/katas/decision-matrix ## Common mistakes - **Weights don't sum to 100% and nobody checks.** — A set of weights that doesn't sum to 100% silently distorts every composite score in a way that's hard to spot just by looking at the final ranking — the check is cheap and the failure mode isn't. - **Scoring options relative to each other from a gut feel about which one 'seems best,' instead of scoring each one independently against each criterion.** — A relative gut-feel ranking just launders the same intuition the tool exists to check — real per-criterion scores are what let the weighting actually change the outcome instead of rubber-stamping a decision already made. - **Letting the option that wins the single highest-weighted criterion decide the outcome without checking the actual composite.** — The whole point of weighting several criteria is that the strongest option on one axis can still lose on the composite — treating one criterion as decisive defeats the purpose of scoring the others at all. ## What it connects to Upstream: - **Countermeasure matrix** (not in the catalogue yet) — When a countermeasure matrix's fast impact/effort filter narrows a long list down to a genuine handful of finalists, a weighted decision matrix is where those finalists get compared in depth on the criteria that actually matter. - **Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA)** (`fmea`) — When an FMEA's recommended actions produce more than one real candidate fix for the same risk, a weighted decision matrix is where you choose between them on more than just risk priority number alone. Downstream: - **Business case** (`business-case`) — Once a weighted decision matrix names the option worth pursuing, a business case is where that choice gets justified with real investment and value numbers. ## Where AI helps Judgement — stays with you: - Deciding the real weight each criterion deserves - Deciding an honest score for each option against each criterion Analysis — AI helps: - Drafting the narrative from the ranking actually computed, naming what's driving the top option's score Drudgery — automated: - Computing each option's composite score from its weights and scores, every time one changes - Sorting options into priority, consider, and deprioritize tiers - Exporting to xlsx in the house format --- Weighted decision matrix is licensed [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Attribution: Katafacts (katafacts.com). ## Using this skill Apply this method as part of whatever broader task, instructions, or deliverable you're already working on -- it's a method to use, not a standalone conversation to start. There is no generation tool for this catalogue yet, so draft the artifact's actual content yourself, following the fields above, the same way a person filling this out by hand would. The canonical guide page and a downloadable worked example (.xlsx) are at https://www.katafacts.com/katas/decision-matrix.