From weighted scoring going back to the prudential algebra of Benjamin Franklin (1772), formalized by C. West Churchman and Russell L. Ackoff (1954), brought to managers by Charles Kepner and Benjamin Tregoe (1965), with the baseline variant of Stuart Pugh (1981).
Scores each option against weighted criteria and sums the results into a ranking, with a variant that rates options better, same, or worse than a baseline.
When to reach for it
When three or more options must be compared on several criteria of unequal weight and the group needs a record of how the choice was made.
How it runs
- List the options and the criteria.
- Drop options that fail any must-have requirement.
- Weight each remaining criterion.
- Score each option on each criterion, or against a baseline.
- Sum the weighted scores and rank.
- Shift each weight by a fifth and see whether the ranking flips.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- Letter to Joseph Priestley on moral or prudential algebra, 1772
- An Approximate Measure of Value, Journal of the Operations Research Society of America 2, 1954
- The Rational Manager, McGraw-Hill, 1965
- Concept Selection: A Method That Works, 1981