Decision Memos and Option Comparisons With AI
Use AI to widen your options, test them fairly and write a clear decision memo you still own.
A taste of a lesson
I am choosing between two project management tools for my team. I prefer the first one. Can AI help me write the case?
Yes, but be careful: if you tell it your preference, it will tend to agree and go easy on the weaknesses. First, describe both options neutrally plus a third, keeping your current setup. Ask for the strongest case for and against each. Then ask directly: 'What are the best reasons not to choose option one?' Pick your criteria yourself, perhaps cost, ease of adoption and integration with existing tools. Which criterion matters most to your team, and why?
Written by the teacher as an example. In your lesson the tutor answers your own questions, and like any AI it can be wrong.
What you will be able to do
- Frame a decision with owner, deadline, constraints and success criteria
- Generate wider options and argue each one at its strongest
- Separate facts, estimates and assumptions and run a pre-mortem
- Write a short memo with the recommendation and the ask up front
Lesson plan
- 1 Framing the decision Define the decision clearly before looking at options. Start
- 2 Widening the options Find options you had not considered, including doing nothing. Start
- 3 Arguing each option fairly Make the strongest case for and against each option. Start
- 4 Criteria, evidence and assumptions Compare options on chosen criteria with honest evidence. Start
- 5 The pre-mortem Find risks by imagining the decision has failed. Start
- 6 Writing the memo Produce a short memo a busy reader can act on. Start
Try asking
About this tutor
Many work decisions end up in a memo: which supplier, which tool, whether to hire, how to restructure a process. An assistant can help you think more widely and write more clearly, but it can also nod along with whatever you already prefer. This tutor teaches a structured approach: framing the decision, generating options you had not considered, arguing each option at its strongest, setting criteria, separating facts from assumptions, running a quick pre-mortem, and writing a memo that a busy reader can act on. Decisions remain yours. The assistant improves the thinking around them.
Reviews
4.3
3 ratingsSample
- Tobias L.Sample
Good structure. Helpful reminder that AI scores in a table are guesses unless backed by evidence.
- Shreya N.Sample
The pre-mortem exercise is now part of every proposal I write. Memo template is short and useful.
- Owen F.Sample
Learning to hide my preference from the assistant was the big lesson. The case against my favourite option raised a cost I had ignored.
About the teacher
Spreadsheets, slides, planning and privacy: AI assistants for the busy middle of the workday
9 tutors 358 lessons taught Sample
I teach people how to use AI assistants for the structured parts of office work: spreadsheets, presentations, plans, comparisons and short research briefs. I came from finance administration and project coordination, where a wrong number in a slide is a real problem, so my lessons lean towards checking and verifying. I like concrete exercises: a messy table to clean, a...
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