ChatGPT as a Thinking and Planning Partner
Lesson 4: The Decision Memo Workflow – From Messy Problem to Recommendation
Lesson Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
- Turn a messy decision into a one-page decision memo.
- Combine assumption audits, pre-mortems, and perspective-taking in one workflow.
- Keep the final judgment and recommendation their own.
Lesson Content
A decision memo is a short document that explains a choice clearly enough for someone else to understand and challenge it. It is the natural output of this course.
The one-page decision memo:
- Decision: the question in one sentence.
- Options: two or three real options, including "do nothing."
- Criteria: what matters (cost, time, risk, people, quality).
- Assumptions: the load-bearing ones and how you checked them.
- Risks: pre-mortem results for the leading option, with prevention steps.
- Stakeholders: who is affected and what they need to hear.
- Recommendation: your choice and why, in your words.
- What would change my mind: the evidence that would reverse the decision.
ChatGPT helps at every step except one: the recommendation is yours. Ask ChatGPT to challenge your recommendation, not to make it.
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