Hey everyone, my name is Maya. I'm a freelance graphic designer, and for the most part, I love the chaos of my job. I thrive on tight deadlines, creative challenges, and the freedom of being my own boss. But a few months ago, I landed in a situation that my usual 🔧 toolkit of caffeine and pro-con lists couldn't solve. My brain was a tangled mess of emotion and logic, and I was completely paralyzed.
🔧 The Dream Project and the Friendship Test
It all started with the dream project. A well-known sustainable tech startup wanted a complete brand overhaul, and they wanted me to lead it. This was the kind of project that could level up my entire career. But there was a catch: the scope was huge, probably too big for one person to handle on the tight timeline they proposed.
My first thought was Leo.
Leo and I go way back—we were college roommates and the inseparable duo of our design program. He's a brilliant illustrator, and our creative styles mesh perfectly. On paper, he was the perfect partner. In my heart, I wanted to text him immediately. But my gut… my gut was screaming, "Danger, Will Robinson!"
The truth is, while Leo is a creative genius, he's also… let's say, creatively punctual. He's missed deadlines on smaller personal projects we'd collaborated on for fun. Nothing major, but enough to plant a seed of doubt. Was I really going to stake my biggest professional opportunity on the hope that he had changed? This wasn't just a business choice; it felt like a test of our friendship and a serious 💡 case of ethical decision making. Do I trust my friend, or do I protect my career and the client's investment?
For two weeks, I was stuck. I'd write a list of pros, and it would be a mile long. I'd write a list of cons, and the single point—"unreliable"—felt like it outweighed everything else. I was losing sleep, and the client was waiting for a proposal.
📊 Finding Clarity Through Framework
In a late-night spiral of googling "how to make a decision you won't regret," I stumbled upon something called the Weighted Average Decision Matrix (WADM). It sounded rigid and corporate, but the page described it as a decision making framework to quantify your priorities. Desperate, I decided to give this online decision support system a try.
The idea was simple: instead of a simple pro-con list, I would break down the decision into 📌 key factors, assign a weight to how much each factor mattered to me, and then 📊 score my two options: "Partner with Leo" or "Go Solo & Outsource."
Here is how I broke it down. It forced me to move beyond "I feel..." and into "This is what truly matters."
📌 The Factors and My Weights
✅ Client ✅ Success & Reputation (35%): This was my absolute top priority. Delivering an amazing ✅ result and protecting my professional reputation had to come first. This wasn't just one job; it was my future.
🔧 Reliability & Stress Level (30%): This was my biggest fear. Could I count on my partner? The thought of chasing someone for deliverables while a massive project hangs in the balance gives me anxiety just thinking about it. My own sanity was a huge factor.
💡 Creative Quality (20%): Of course, the quality of the ✅ final product was incredibly 📌 important. The work had to be top-tier.
📌 Financial Outcome (10%): This involved the financial decision making aspect. Partnering meant splitting the profit, but going solo meant I might have to pay subcontractors. I gave this a lower weight because either path would be profitable; the ✅ success of the project was more 📌 important than the exact dollar amount.
🚀 Friendship Impact (5%): I care about Leo, I really do. The last thing I wanted was for a business deal to ruin a long-standing friendship. But when I was forced to assign a number, I realized that a true friendship should be able to withstand an honest business decision. It was 📌 important, but not at the expense of everything else.
🔧 Scoring My Options
Now for the hard part. I had to be brutally honest in scoring each option from 1 (terrible) to 10 (perfect) for each factor.
For "Partner with Leo":- Creative Quality got a 9. He's brilliant. Together, we could create something magical.
- Reliability & Stress Level got a 3. My stomach clenched as I typed it, but history doesn't lie. I couldn't honestly 📊 score it higher.
- Client ✅ Success got a 6. The creative side would be great, but a missed deadline could poison the whole project.
- Financial Outcome got a 7. We'd share the profit, but the initial risk would also be shared.
- Friendship Impact got a 4. If things went sour, it could be the end of our friendship. High risk.
- Creative Quality got a 7. I'm good, but I knew I'd have to find a contractor to fill the illustration gap, and they might not have the same synergy as Leo.
- Reliability & Stress Level got a 9. I trust myself to manage the project and my own deadlines. I'd vet any contractor heavily, minimizing that risk.
- Client ✅ Success got a 9. Because reliability was so high, I knew I could deliver a great ✅ result on time, even if the creative 🔧 process was more challenging.
- Financial Outcome got an 8. I'd keep a larger portion of the profit, even after paying a contractor.
- Friendship Impact got a 10. By keeping business and friendship separate, our relationship wouldn't be at risk.
📊 The WADM ✅ Results
I plugged all the numbers into the 🔧 tool. Here's the visual breakdown of my decision making framework:
| Factor | Weight(%) | Partner with Leo (📊 Score/Weighted) | Go Solo & Outsource (📊 Score/Weighted) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Client ✅ Success & Reputation | 35 | 6 / 2.10 | 9 / 3.15 |
| Reliability & Stress Level | 30 | 3 / 0.90 | 9 / 2.70 |
| Creative Quality | 20 | 9 / 1.80 | 7 / 1.40 |
| Financial Outcome | 10 | 7 / 0.70 | 8 / 0.80 |
| Friendship Impact | 5 | 4 / 0.20 | 10 / 0.50 |
| Total | 100 | 5.70 | 8.55 |
✅ Crystal Clear Direction
The numbers stared back at me from the screen. 8.55 for going solo versus 5.70 for partnering with Leo. It wasn't even close.
Seeing it laid out so clearly was like a breath of fresh air. The decision making framework didn't make the decision for me; it simply held up a mirror to my own priorities. My emotional desire to work with my friend was real, but the 📊 data, based on my own inputs, showed that the risks to my business and my well-being were just too high. It separated the person from the problem.
I didn't show Leo the chart. That would have been cruel. Instead, armed with clarity, I called him. I told him how much his friendship meant to me and that, for that very reason, I couldn't risk it on a high-stakes project. I said I needed to tackle this one alone to prove something to myself. He understood. Our friendship was preserved.
📌 The Bottom Line: Framework Over Feelings
The project, by the way, was a massive ✅ success. It was stressful, but it was a controlled stress. And I know, without a doubt, that I made the right choice. For anyone out there stuck between your heart and your head, I can't recommend using a decision making framework enough. It brings the kind of clarity that no amount of late-night worrying ever will.
The beauty of this decision support system is that it doesn't diminish the importance of emotions or relationships—it just ensures they're weighted appropriately against all the other factors that matter. Sometimes, the most caring thing you can do for a friendship is to protect it from the stress of a high-stakes business partnership.