No luck involved here: weight what matters, score each option, and the ranking updates as you type.
How to fill it in
- List the criteria first, before you look at the options again. Three to five that you would defend out loud.
- Give each criterion a weight from 1 to 5. A weight of 5 counts five times as much as a weight of 1.
- Score every option from 0 to 10 on each criterion, one criterion at a time across all options, so the scores stay comparable.
The ranking on the right updates with every keystroke and is saved in this browser.
The arithmetic, with the example on the page
Each score is multiplied by its criterion’s weight and the results are added. In the example, salary weighs 5, commute 3 and room to grow 4, so the best possible total is (5 + 3 + 4) × 10 = 120.
| Option | Weighted total | Share of 120 |
|---|---|---|
| Offer B | 6×5 + 9×3 + 7×4 = 85 | 70.8% |
| Offer A | 8×5 + 4×3 + 6×4 = 76 | 63.3% |
| Stay put | 5×5 + 8×3 + 4×4 = 65 | 54.2% |
Offer A pays best and still loses, because the commute and the growth together outweigh the salary gap.
Test the result before you trust it
Change the weight you are least sure of by one point. If the winner flips, the decision hangs on that weight and it deserves more thought than the scores do. If the winner holds across reasonable weights, you can stop.
And if the matrix names a winner and you feel disappointed, a criterion is missing from the list. When two options are genuinely level, there is no harm in letting a coin or the yes or no wheel finish the job.