# The Write-up

> From *The Decision Product* (Appendix B). Free to use, adapt, and redistribute
> inside your organization.
>
> Use this section list **before you open a notebook**. If a section is empty,
> you are not ready to present.
>
> Do not put a framework name on the page. Fill the page.
>
> The one-page version uses sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8. The full note uses
> all eight. Both share the header.

---

**Decision:** _(name the choice in a phrase)_

**Owner:**
**Author:**
**Date:**   **Decide by:**

**Type:** ☐ One-shot  ☐ Repeating rule
**Purpose:** ☐ Recommends  ☐ Decides  ☐ Informs

---

## 1. The choice

One or two sentences. The question you are actually answering, and who can
commit. Not the original request. Not the metric.

## 2. The alternatives

Including the status quo. One line each. If you are excluding something people
will expect, say so and why.

- **A.**
- **B.**
- **C.**

## 3. The recommendation

We recommend **[action]**, for **[scope]**, starting **[when]**.

Expected consequence. Major tradeoff. Whether you are willing to run this, and
for how long.

## 4. Why (reasons that could change the ranking)

Two to four reasons. Each must be able to change the ranking if it is false.
If a reason cannot do that, cut it.

1.
2.
3.

## 5. Economics

What "better" means, in units of consequence. Which popular metrics you are
**not** treating as the objective, and why.

## 6. What would change the ranking

The assumptions and circumstances in which you would pick a different
alternative. If nothing would change your mind, you are not deciding.

## 7. Evidence used, and what we skipped

What you needed to believe. What you measured. What you did not analyze,
because it could not change the ranking.

## 8. The rule

What the operating process does now. Who runs the rule. Cadence. Thresholds or
classes. Exception path. What you will watch. When you revisit, in dates or
triggers, not as "ongoing monitoring."

---

Methods, code, formulations, and reproducibility belong **behind** this page.

**If the ranking in the appendix disagrees with section 3, the write-up is
wrong.**

---

The Decision Product  ·  thedecisionproduct.com