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For singular subjects it's usually easy to demonstrate a decision's pros and cons for example with a SWOT analysis or similar.

Is there a similar framework to showcase the pros and cons of multiple choices so that a comparison can be drawn?

CluelessDeveloper
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    There is a field of multi attribute decision making. I'm not sure if that is what you're asking for. If you're asking if there is a way of making complex subjects simple for people who don't want to exert the effort to study them, then, no. – MCW Nov 05 '21 at 10:19

2 Answers2

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You can show a table that exhibits the criteria against which you measured each of your decision alternatives with how you scored each alternative against the criterion, using a qualitative ordinal or quantitative interval scale. The example below shows a prioritization method that scores the relative value against costs and risks of four alternatives and the resulting score. Showing this table would explain--at least at a summary level--to stakeholders how you chose an alternative over the others. I have used it many times without issue.

Prioritization of Alternatives

David Espina
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TL;DR

There are as many approaches as there are business problems to solve. However, I think a short sequence of collaborative exercises that generate artifacts to support decision-making is a good agile approach, and I suggest a few below.

Analysis and Recommendations

There is no canonical answer to this, but from an agile perspective I think that there are a number of agile approaches to consensus-building around business decisions. Some of the most popular are available from Mike Cohn's Mountain Goat Software Tools.

In particular, you might want to look at the following in order:

  1. Project Success Sliders (in order to define success)
  2. Relative Weighting (to weigh the pros and cons)
  3. Theme Screening and Theme Scoring (to identify priorities)

I'm pretty confident that there's no exhaustive list of methodologies you might follow, nor is any particular approach intrinsically better than all the rest. As an agile practitioner, though, I've found these tools and methodologies to be very useful in helping stakeholders coalesce around what matters most to them, and to quickly come to a consensus (if not necessarily agreement) on how to prioritize limited resources to generate ROI from a set of initiatives.

Todd A. Jacobs
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