Simplified criteria weighting

In the Decision Driven® Strategy and Life tools, I’ve implemented a simplified method for weighting criteria.  It’s all done through a drag-drop canvas; after setting must limits and ideal values for each factor, users can drag and drop them into priority (weighting) “bands”.

Even for a complex decision with a large number of criteria, this makes the weighting process simple to accomplish and puts the focus on thinking, not weighting mechanics.

I find that assigning criteria to these broad priority bands helps limit wasted time debating a 1 point difference in weighting between 2 factors.  It helps avoid “spreadsheetitis” and reinforces the fact that decisions are driven by human judgment; few of which involve extreme precision.  The “priority bands” weighting approach keeps the focus on thinking and communication, not playing a numbers game.

I’ve also included an “Ignore” band so that users can do a quick first-pass evaluation against a small number of factors and then return to perform more detailed analysis later.  Of course, the greatest accelerator of all is the fact that we provide a proven criteria pattern for each decision to jump start your analysis; it’s a lot of hard work to think up a good set of criteria from scratch and increases the likelihood that you will overlook an important factor.