Weighted scoring matrix

Use when

• Three or more options, four or more criteria, and no option is best on everything.
• You need to show your reasoning to someone who was not in the room.
• The criteria are genuinely independent of one another.

Do not use when

• One criterion dominates. Then it is a single-variable comparison and the matrix is theatre.
• The scores are invented. A matrix of guesses produces a confident total from nothing.
• You already know the answer. The weights will be tuned until the matrix agrees.

Inputs required

• Two or more options
• Criteria with weights
• A score per option per criterion

Procedure

1. 01

   List criteria before options

   Write what matters before looking at what is available. Criteria chosen afterwards describe the option you prefer.

2. 02

   Weight them

   Distribute a fixed budget — 100 points across the criteria. Forcing a fixed sum stops everything being important.

3. 03

   Score each cell

   Use a consistent scale, 0–10, and anchor the ends: what would a 0 look like, what would a 10 look like. Score a column at a time, not a row at a time, to reduce halo effects.

4. 04

   Normalise and total

   Weighted score is weight × score, summed per option. Normalise weights to sum to 1 so totals are comparable across runs.

5. 05

   Delete flat criteria

   Any criterion where every option scores the same cannot change the ranking. It adds nothing but a number. Remove it.

6. 06

   Test the winner

   For each criterion, compute how far its weight must move before the ranking changes. If any single small move flips the winner, the matrix is not deciding this.