Project Decision Making with Kepner Tregoe

Kepner-Tregoe's Decision Matrix has been in use for years, but for some reason, it's not discussed frequently in project management circles.

To a degree, it's similar to a standard vendor weighting spreadsheet, and also seems a close cousin of QFD (Quality Function Deployment), which ties design elements to weighted functional needs.

It includes classifying musts, wants, and constraints; prioritizing objectives based on that; generating alternate solutions; scoring each solution vs. the needs; and identifying risk probability and severity to make the final decision.

Of course, sometimes even after all that, we can end up with a tie, where we run into the Buridan's Ass syndrome (see Graham McHardy's post earlier today). To refresh your memory, that's where an ass, undecided between two equally appealing piles of hay, starves to death. The term was named for John Buridan, a 14th century philosopher, who created the story.

In that case, we just need to just pick one (sometimes after allowing a few days to sleep on it). For more info and other decision making options, see Graham's post.

Meanwhile, here's a good description of Kepner-Tregoe from the folks at ValueBasedManagement...

Kepner-Tregoe Matrix | Decision-making method framework tool