# The Choice Sentence

> From *The Decision Product* (Chapter 2). Ten minutes, before anything else.
>
> "Inventory and service" is a heading. "By the April freeze, Priya will choose
> how we replenish dealer-facing parts for the next cycle" is a thought. The
> first cannot be accepted or rejected. The second can.
>
> A heading does not constrain work. A sentence does.

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## The shape

> By **[this date]**, **[this person]** will choose among **[these
> alternatives]**, in order to **[this]**, knowing that **[this]** will still be
> uncertain.

Write it even if the first draft is ugly. The draft being ugly is not the
problem. The sentence being unwritable is the problem, and it is information.

---

## Fill it in

**By this date:** ____________________

Not the meeting. The freeze, the contract window, the promotion start, the
quarter-end cash event. When does the choice go *stale*?

**This person will choose:** ____________________

The owner, not the requester. Who can commit, or who will run the rule.
"The S&OP meeting" is not an owner. It is an audience.

**Among these alternatives:** ____________________

- A. _(the status quo, always)_
- B.
- C.

All of the same kind. "Do a study or do nothing" is not two commitments of the
same kind. "Keep the current rule or change the rule" is.

**In order to:** ____________________

The outcome, in units of consequence. Not the metric.

**Knowing that this will still be uncertain:** ____________________

What you will *not* know at the moment of commitment. This clause sets the
standard the evidence has to meet, and it stops the project becoming a search
for certainty.

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## Then write it out as one sentence

> ____________________________________________________________
>
> ____________________________________________________________

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## Four checks

- [ ] **Can it be rejected?** If nobody could disagree with it, it is still a topic.
- [ ] **Is there a named person?** A role is not a person. A meeting is not a person.
- [ ] **Is the status quo in the list?** It is always an alternative, and it is the incumbent.
- [ ] **Is the date the freeze, not the meeting?** Optimizing toward the meeting finishes the work at the wrong moment.

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## The refusal move

If the brief will not support this sentence, do not return it with objections.
Return it **with your best guess already filled in**, and ask them to correct it.

You are not blocking. You are proposing, and they are now editing a concrete
sentence rather than defending a vague one. Most of the time they will correct
two clauses and approve the rest.

It also produces a written record of what was agreed, which is worth having in
about week five.

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The Decision Product  ·  thedecisionproduct.com