Professor Ken Homa

Georgetown University

Strategic Business Analytics

SBA Toolkit
Analytical Priorities Matrix

Proprietary Material
© K.E. Homa
 Analytical Priorities Matrix

Is the answer to the question / issue likely

Pivotal

to change any of the’ major conclusions

Probable Impact

or recommendations?

If “yes”, it’s “Pivotal” and worth pursuing.

If “no”, it may be interesting, but from a

Incidental

priorities/ perspective it’s only “Incidental”

and not worth any analytical effort.
 Analytical Priorities Matrix

Level of Confidence
Low High

Pivotal
Probable Impact

How confident is the team that the

conclusion (or hypothesis) is likely
to be validated if additional research
and analysis were to be done?
Incidental
 Analytical Priorities Matrix

Level of Confidence
Low High

Pivotal
Probable Impact
Incidental

Mark Lowest Priority: Doesn’t

warrant any additional

Complete analytical resources

 Analytical Priorities Matrix

Level of Confidence
Low High

Pivotal
Probable Impact

May be validated through basic

logical analysis. e.g. what if the
hypothesis is not true? What if
estimated values are ridiculously
high or low?
Incidental

Evaluate Mark
Extremes Complete
 Analytical Priorities Matrix

Level of Confidence
Low High

Pivotal

Monitor Be alert for evidence that may

surface in the course of other
Probable Impact

research & analysis efforts that

& Adjust might raise doubts
Incidental

Evaluate Mark
Extremes Complete
Highest Analytical Priority:
Requires timely research
Analytical Priorities Matrix
& analysis to reach a high-
confidence conclusion (or
to reclassify the issue as
“incidental”, not “pivotal” Level of Confidence
Low High

Pivotal

Research Monitor
Probable Impact

& Analyze & Adjust

Incidental

Evaluate Mark
Extremes Complete
 Analytical Priorities Matrix

Level of Confidence
Low High

Pivotal

Research Monitor
Probable Impact

& Analyze & Adjust

Incidental

Evaluate Mark
Extremes Complete
 Homa’s Law of Analysis

• The only reason to do any analysis is to

increase your confidence that you’re
drawing the right conclusion or making
the right decision.

• In other words, once you’re confident,

stop analyzing … and never analyze
anything that doesn’t matter.