Do you struggle to choose the right solution when you have too many?

Choosing the right solution or design can be even more challenging than coming up with one. It isn't easy to compare many items against a multitude of variables. Pugh's Matrix is a decision-making tool to simplify the comparison of multiple options.

Here is how you can use it

The Pugh's Matrix it's a table

The Pugh's Matrix is a simple table with comparison criteria as rows and each item you want to compare as columns.

Following six simple steps, you can populate this matrix and pick your best option.

1. Define your evaluation criteria

List all the properties you want to use to compare your options.

A proxy can make complex measures simpler. For example, you can measure an essay's length in pages, words, or characters.

2. Weight your criteria

Do all of your criteria have the same influence on your decision?

Sometimes criteria can be more or less important compared to others. I usually score my criteria 1-10 to define how important they are to me. If an option scores well in critical criteria, that score is more important than those on other criteria.

3. Pick a baseline

Pick an option you will use to compare other options against.

4. Evaluate one criterion at the time

One criterion at the time, compare all options against the baseline.

Each comparison should yield a single value:

• + when the compared option is better than the baseline

• - when the compared option is worse than the baseline

• 0 when the compared option is similar to the baseline

5. Count your results considering weighting

Count your results considering weighting.

Treating + as +1 and - as -1, multiply weighing by the score and sum the values in each column.

6. Chose the option with the highest score

Pugh's Matrix simplifies the comparison between multiple options. It also helps you eliminate non-viable options.