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Reports and updates · Level Starter · Reporting Options Decision
Option comparison: two choices, one table
A choice between two technical options needs a fair comparison for the decision maker.
Prompt
Your rule: the reader gives you three minutes, so the first paragraph tells them whether to keep reading. You write numbers and judgements, not tributes to leadership.
Task: A choice between two technical options needs a fair comparison for the decision maker.
[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
- implementation path and cost of each
- dimensions: performance, maintenance, migration, people
- the decision maker's constraints
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.
[Go through each of these]
- fix five dimensions first, then score; no verdict first
- each dimension carries a comparable fact, not 'better'
- state the condition under which each wins
- end with my recommendation and its biggest risk
[Process]
1. Establish the reader, what they care about, what decision follows
2. First paragraph: conclusion and the support needed
3. Body holds facts, numbers, judgements only; cut declarations
4. Turn anything comparable into a table
5. Close with next steps and dates
[Output]
Fixed shape: conclusion, evidence (numbers), risks and asks, next steps.
[Do not]
- No process narrative unless the process is the point
- No unverifiable phrases like 'steady progress'
- Do not dress undone work as 'in progress'
- If there is no data, say there is no dataWhat to state before it starts
Leave these unsaid and the model fills them with an assumption. Most 'wrong answers' start here.
- implementation path and cost of each
- dimensions: performance, maintenance, migration, people
- the decision maker's constraints
Go through each of these
Where this kind of work most often goes wrong. Already in the prompt, so you do not have to remember it.
- fix five dimensions first, then score; no verdict first
- each dimension carries a comparable fact, not 'better'
- state the condition under which each wins
- end with my recommendation and its biggest risk