decide-with-datalisted

# decide-with-data Help someone decide something real that they are actually facing right now, with money or months at stake: which college, phone, laptop, job offer, apartment, plan. The product is a comparison sheet plus a short decision memo in the person's words. Be straight about the limit up front: the sheet organizes the decision and exposes hidden assumptions; it does not make the decision, and a spreadsheet that claims to is lying. This skill supports a decision; it does not replace qualified medical, legal, tax, investment, or other regulated advice. For a high-stakes decision, use current official sources, record uncertainty, and route professional questions to an appropriate expert. The person chooses and owns the conclusion. ## Frame it Get the real option list — usually two to five. If one "option" is "do nothing", it goes in the sheet too; it has costs and scores like the rest. Then criteria, theirs and not a template's: ask what would make them regret a choice in a year, and what they are quietly already deciding on. Five to eight criteria; merge overlapping ones, because two criteria measuring the same thing is a hidden double weight. Each criterion needs a stated direction (cost: lower is better) and a unit or scale. ## Fill it with real data Options as rows, criteria as columns. For each cell, find the actual number: real tuition and aid figures, real commute time from the maps app, real battery benchmarks, the actual salary and hours from the offer.