Make Better
Decisions With Pugh Matrix - A
simple tool for all decisions
Jas
Singh- msc@sorach.com
December 14, 2006
In
decision-making environment, people can become attached to the ideas that they
contribute, and sometimes it becomes a matter of ideology or ego as to who’s
proposal is to be implemented. Pugh matrix gives the team a structured way to
make decisions. If you are a consultant and work with teams, you probably
already use this method, if not, here is a tool that will serve you well in
many situations – on your desktop or in a meeting situation. Pugh Matrix is synthesis tool as well as
consensus building tool. Contrary to
general belief, Pugh matrix can be applied to many decision making situations
not only design.
So what is Pugh Matrix?
The Pugh Matrix method was invented by Stuart Pugh, University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland as an approach for selecting concept alternatives.
Common steps of
creating a Pugh Matrix are listed below, but remember there are two main stages of this process,
- one the formation of the Pugh Matrix with all of the options and their attributes,
- and second stage is to include the best qualities from as many opions as possible to improve the final design.
- Develop a set of criteria.
- List all of the proposals, designs or ideas that are to be evaluated.
- Using a simple matrix - list criteria on the left and the concepts across the top. (I actually use it the other way) Select one of the concepts or idea as a baseline. For example, if you already have a product use the functions and features as the baseline. Having a baseline is not essential, however having a must have list of requirements is very important.
- Evaluate each of the concepts against the baseline. Determine whether it is better (+), the same (0) or worse(-) than the baseline. Alternately, one could assign a -1, 0, +1 based on where each choice would stack up against a set of the agreed-to criteria. We could give each of these criterion a weight and get the composite score of the alternate*criterion to determine the better alternative.
- Record the team's scoring on the matrix.
- For each column, determine the total number of pluses, minuses and sames. Alternately, take the sum of the alternate score * weight of the criterion.
- Work to improve the promising concepts by incorporating strong ideas from other lower ranking concepts. This is the most important aspect of the Pugh Matrix.
- Continue the process of synthesizing concepts through discussion and iteration.
- Document the steps that you went through to come to the final concept.
The above
process forces a discipline of thorough examination of the issues and benefits
and a way to include good ideas, concepts or solutions from competing
proposals. Practice Pugh matrix on paper before using with a group.
Lets make excellent decisions.
Jas Singh
Second Editor
http://www.SORACH.com
For comments please feel free to contact Jas by email msc@sorach.com