Decision making

Prioritisation Matrix Example

Ever stared at a to-do list so long it felt like a CVS receipt? Same. That’s why I grabbed a prioritisation matrix example off StaMatrix and turned my weekly chaos into a five-minute sorting exercise. Below I’ll show you the exact table I built, how I filled it in, and how you can copy-paste the whole thing for your own life—whether you’re juggling uni assignments, wedding venues, or product features at work.

What a prioritisation matrix example actually looks like

Think of it as a mini spreadsheet with two super-simple rules:

  1. Down the left column you list every option you’re torn between.
  2. Across the top you drop the factors that matter to you.

Then you score each combo, multiply by how much you care about that factor, and let the maths do the nagging. No fancy MBA jargon—just “importance × performance = priority”.

My real-life prioritisation matrix example

Last month I needed to pick one side-project to focus on. I had four ideas swirling around and only two hours a day. Here’s the table I knocked up in StaMatrix:

Side-project Fun (1-5) Learning (1-5) £-potential (1-5) Time/week (1-5) Weighted total
Language app 4 × 3 = 12 5 × 4 = 20 2 × 5 = 10 3 × 2 = 6 48
Vintage store 3 × 3 = 9 2 × 4 = 8 4 × 5 = 20 2 × 2 = 4 41
YouTube channel 5 × 3 = 15 3 × 4 = 12 3 × 5 = 15 1 × 2 = 2 44
Freelance coding 2 × 3 = 6 4 × 4 = 16 5 × 5 = 25 4 × 2 = 8 55

Fun, Learning, £-potential and Time/week are my factors. The bold numbers underneath are my “how much I care” weights (Fun = 3, Learning = 4, etc.). Freelance coding won, not because it’s the most fun, but because the matrix forced me to admit the cash factor matters right now.

How to steal this prioritisation matrix example in 3 clicks

  1. Hit “Create New Matrix” on StaMatrix.
  2. Paste “Fun, Learning, £-potential, Time/week” as your parameters.
  3. Slam in your own ideas where I put “Language app, Vintage store…” and tweak the weights until they feel right.

Done. The site totals everything live, so you can slide the weights up and down until the winner feels obvious.

Why this prioritisation matrix example beats a pros-and-cons list

Pros-and-cons lists lie. They let you write “cheap” in one column and “fun” in the other, but they never force you to decide how much cheap matters versus fun. A prioritisation matrix example turns your gut feelings into numbers you can argue with. When my partner saw the 55 vs 48 scores, even she couldn’t claim I was “over-thinking” it.

Three more quick prioritisation matrix examples you can copy today

1. Weekend trip picker

Parameters: Cost, Travel time, Instagrammability, Food scene. Weights: 5, 3, 2, 4. Options: Brighton, Bath, Brecon Beacons.

2. Uni module chooser

Parameters: Exam difficulty, Essay count, Career relevance, Seminar fun. Weights: 4, 3, 5, 2. Options: AI, Ethics, Marketing, Stats.

3. Office software swap

Parameters: Price, Migration pain, Team learning curve, Integration score. Weights: 5, 4, 4, 5. Options: Notion, ClickUp, Asana, Trello.

Each link above is pre-built in StaMatrix; you just clone the template and swap in your own pain points.

Pro tips to level-up any prioritisation matrix example

Ready to build your own prioritisation matrix example?

If you’re still staring at a blank grid, type your dilemma into StaMatrix’s AI helper: “I can’t decide which puppy to adopt, help!” It’ll spit out factors like “shedding level”, “bark volume”, “walk-time needs” and pre-score the breeds. From there you just tweak the weights until the maths barks back the right answer.

Go on—give the spreadsheet a go. Your future, slightly-less-stressed self will thank you for the five minutes you spent turning chaos into a colour-coded prioritisation matrix example that actually makes sense.