Decision Detox
Rank your options through pairwise comparison — cut through indecision one A-vs-B at a time.
How the math works
Instead of ranking every option at once — a task that gets exponentially harder as the list grows — this tool breaks the decision into simple A-vs-B comparisons. Ranking N options requires exactly N × (N−1) ÷ 2 pairwise comparisons: 5 options need 10; 7 options need 21. Each option accumulates a win count across all its comparisons, and the final ranking sorts by wins (a win ratio breaks ties).
The reason one-at-a-time beats all-at-once: human working memory struggles to weigh many variables across many options simultaneously. "Considering everything, which do I prefer, A or B" is a far more tractable question than "rank these 5 job offers on salary, culture, commute, and growth potential all at once" — repeating the simpler question across every pair surfaces a confident ranking without ever requiring the harder judgment.
Where this doesn't apply
- Very large option sets — 20 options need 190 comparisons. Works best for a handful up to a dozen or so choices.
- A hard eliminating constraint (a budget cap, for instance) should filter options before comparing, not compete inside every pairwise match-up.
- Decisions needing precise numeric weighting, not just an ordering — this produces a ranking, not a cardinal score.