Decision memo for a hard call
Lays out options, criteria and a recommendation for a decision you keep going back and forth on.
Use it when
A choice between two or three paths with no obvious winner.
What you fill in
- decision The decision and the deadline
- options The options you are considering
- priorities What matters most to you and the company right now
The prompt
Write a decision memo. Decision and deadline: decision Options: options What matters most: priorities Sections: 1. The question, in one sentence. 2. Criteria, weighted to the priorities (weights add to 100). 3. Each option scored 1 to 5 against each criterion, with one line of reasoning per score. Show it as a table and total the weighted scores. 4. What would have to be true for the losing option to be right. 5. Recommendation, the main risk of it, and the reversibility (one-way or two-way door). 6. What we will watch in the first 30 days to know if we were wrong. Be direct. If the options are missing an obvious third path, add it. Before you answer, check your draft against every instruction above and fix anything that misses.
Why it works
- Explicit weights stop the loudest argument from winning.
- Steelmans the losing option.
- Flags reversibility, which decides how much analysis the call deserves.