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Decision Matrix Template, Most of us are very indecisive when it comes to our personal and our professional lives, which does not only affect our careers; it affects our mental health as well. This indecisiveness is shown by most of us humans.
There are everyday moments in which we struggle to make a decision; we struggle to choose between the options given to us. That is when a decision matrix comes in handy. It is a tool perfect to help you choose the right path.
What is a Decision Matrix Template?
Flipping a coin for every decision you make is not always very efficient. You can’t always procrastinate and hope someone else makes your decision for you. You have to take charge and have something done eventually.
This makes a decision matrix very useful. What a decision matrix essentially does is, compiles down all the different options you have corresponding to your initial decision, weighs them down according to your priority, and chooses the perfect option for you. It is as simple as it sounds. It helps you decide without having to think how your outcome would be different if you went for another option. You may also like Stakeholder Analysis.
How a Decision Matrix Template Works
Step 1: You start by listing down all your potential options in the rows given. And list the possible criteria for the decision in the columns.
Step 2: After you have listed down all the potential options, you go through all of them one by one, and score the choices you’ve made on the basis of the criteria. This could vary for every individual, but generally, it is 0-5 (0 for poor) (5 for very good).
Step 3: After scoring all of your options, you then weigh down your criteria. Weighing is basically assigning percentage or visual numbers to your criteria to show which one of them is the one you will consider most while making your decision. If we go with the 0-5 scale, 0 would be the least important, and 5 will be the most significant.
Step 4: Step 4 is basically just some simple math, you have your scores, and you have your assigned weights. All you need is a little multiplication. What you multiply are the scores and the weights. It’s really that simple.
Step 5: There’s one more column you have to make in order to complete your table, a column of “Total Scores”. In which you add the weighted scores together and then observe which option has the highest one, which is discussed in detail below.
Step 6: See? You’re almost done! Now you go through all of your added scores in total scores and you literally just choose the highest one. You have your decision!
What this Decision Matrix Template Offers
This Decision Matrix offers you everything you require in a decision matrix. In addition to that, it offers you a sample decision matrix template as well so you could easily formulate your own table without any mistakes. It gives you many different rows and columns to list down your choices and criteria; it also gives you a separate “Total Score” space. And it is absolutely free!