How a decision matrix works
A decision matrix turns "I keep going back and forth" into a table you can argue with. Here is what HastingsOne does with your numbers, and how to get numbers worth using.
1. Options
List the real choices, two to eight of them. "Do nothing" or "wait" can be an option too.
2. Criteria and weights
A criterion is something you care about: pay, commute, cost, noise, how long it will last. Give each a weight from 1 (nice to have) to 5 (critical). Keep the list short; five criteria you mean are better than twelve you invented to fill the table. Avoid two criteria that measure the same thing (price and "value for money"), or that thing counts twice.
3. Scores
Score every option on every criterion from 0 (terrible) to 10 (as good as it gets). Score one criterion across all options at a time, not one option at a time: comparing options side by side gives fairer scores.
4. The arithmetic
Each option's total is the sum of weight x score. HastingsOne shows it out of 100: the total divided by the most any option could get (every score 10), times 100. In the worked example, Remote scores 6, 10, 6 and 8 on Pay (weight 5), Commute (3), Growth (4) and Team (2): 30 + 30 + 24 + 16 = 100 out of a possible 140, which is 71.4.
5. Must-haves
Some things are not trade-offs. Tick "must-have" on a criterion and set a minimum score: any option below it is ruled out, whatever its total. In the example Downtown pays best, but its commute scores 2 against a minimum of 4, so it is out.
6. How solid is the lead
Weights are guesses. HastingsOne changes one weight at a time to every other value from 0 to 5 and recalculates. If any change makes a different option win (or makes a tie), it tells you the change nearest your own weight. If none does, the result "holds under any single weight change", and your weights are not what is deciding it.
It also finds the tipping point: the smallest single score increase that would put the runner-up ahead. If one point on one criterion would do it, you are closer to a coin toss than the totals suggest; check that score.
7. Then decide, and look back
The matrix does not decide for you. If the winner feels wrong, that feeling is information: often a criterion is missing or a weight is off. Change it and look again. When you have chosen, save it to your Decision Journal with what you expect, set a review date, and record how it turned out when the date comes.