Decisional Balance Sheet

[Mabla70]

Proposed Term

Decisional Balance Sheet

Context (Optional)

Decision helper for complex alternatives based on costs. Also known as Benjamin Franklin analysis.

Pre-submission Checklist

• I have searched existing anchors and this term is not already included
• This term refers to a well-established concept (not something I invented)

[raifdmueller]

Evaluation against Quality Criteria

Criterion	Score	Assessment
Precise	✅	References a specific, documented method — a structured table of pros/cons with weighted importance, attributed to Benjamin Franklin (1772). Clear boundaries: it evaluates a single decision, not a comparison of alternatives.
Rich	⚠️	Activates a defined structure (pros column, cons column, weighting), but the concept is relatively simple. It does not activate a deep methodology the way Pugh Matrix or ATAM do.
Consistent	⚠️	The term "Decisional Balance Sheet" is primarily used in psychology (motivational interviewing, health behavior change — Janis & Mann, 1977). In decision-making contexts, "Benjamin Franklin method" or "T-chart" are more common. LLMs may associate the term more with psychology than with engineering/business decisions.
Attributable	✅	Irving Janis & Leon Mann (Decision Making, 1977) formalized it. Benjamin Franklin described the method in a 1772 letter to Joseph Priestley.

Relationship to Existing Anchors

We already have decision-support anchors:

• Pugh Matrix — compares multiple alternatives against a baseline (multi-criteria)
• Morphological Box — generates the solution space before evaluation
• SWOT — strategic analysis of strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats

The Decisional Balance Sheet fills a gap: evaluating a single yes/no decision with weighted pros and cons. Pugh Matrix requires multiple alternatives; this one works when the question is "should we do X or not?"

Recommendation

Accept with qualifier. The term should be "Decisional Balance Sheet according to Janis & Mann" to steer LLMs toward the structured decision-making method rather than the psychological/motivational-interviewing usage. The qualifier disambiguates.

Alternatively, consider the simpler name "Benjamin Franklin Method" — it's more widely recognized in engineering/business contexts and LLMs associate it reliably with the pros/cons weighting approach.

Suggested tier: ★★☆ (Needs qualification)

[raifdmueller]

LLM Activation Test (Self-Report)

I tested both names against my own activation:

"Decisional Balance Sheet" → First association: clinical psychology, motivational interviewing, health behavior change. The decision-making structure is there but secondary.

"Benjamin Franklin Method" → Immediate, vivid activation: the 1772 letter to Joseph Priestley, two columns (pros/cons), weighting by importance, crossing out items of equal weight on both sides until one column dominates. Concrete, actionable, no ambiguity.

Recommendation Update

Use "Benjamin Franklin Method" as the anchor name. It activates more precisely and doesn't need a qualifier — that makes it Tier ★★★ (self-standing) instead of ★★☆.

The Janis & Mann reference belongs in the "Key Proponents" section as the academic formalization, not in the anchor name.

@Mabla70 — what do you think? Would "Benjamin Franklin Method" work for your use case?

[Mabla70]

@raifdmueller I agree with the "Benjamin Franklin Method" for the anchor, it seem to be unambiguous and aims for the decision making method I want to address.

[raifdmueller]

Resolved by #475 (merged). Anchor live at https://llm-coding.github.io/Semantic-Anchors/anchor/decisional-balance-sheet — EN+DE. Thanks @Mabla70 for the proposal.

[raifdmueller]

Landed in PR #475.