daBongo LMS AI Training Courses

← Back to Course

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:

  1. Decision: the question in one sentence.
  2. Options: two or three real options, including "do nothing."
  3. Criteria: what matters (cost, time, risk, people, quality).
  4. Assumptions: the load-bearing ones and how you checked them.
  5. Risks: pre-mortem results for the leading option, with prevention steps.
  6. Stakeholders: who is affected and what they need to hear.
  7. Recommendation: your choice and why, in your words.
  8. 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.

Enroll to continue this lesson.

The preview above shows the lesson objectives and opening lesson content. Enroll to view the full lesson, complete the practice work, and take the lesson quiz.

Log In / Create Account Back to Course

← Back to Course